Tales from the BellHunterVerse
by WastedTimeEE
Summary: A collection of one-shots and mini-fics set in the "Rehabilitation of Dawn Bellwether" universe. Featuring characters like Dawn, Vern, the rest of the Hunters, and various side characters.
1. Queen of the Dead Pt1

**Tales from the BellHunterverse**

Presents

**Queen of the Dead Pt1**

By Wastedtimeee

_Schump..._

_ Screeee..._

Cold.

_Schump..._

_ Screeee..._

Wet.

_ Schump..._

_ Screeee..._

Miserable.

The weather was practically standard fare for those who lived in the bustling coastal city of Seaotter. An expanse of dark, murky clouds loomed over the night skyline, drowning the moon and stars in its abyssal embrace as it released surge after surge of wet ice pellets upon the city below. Despite the fact that it was late April, what Seaotter folk would refer to as _'winter'_ remained firmly entrenched in the region. Its withering talons dug in deep into the metropolis' soft underbelly as it let out a defiant and territorial roar in the face of the warmer spring weather that had been struggling to get a foothold into the area for weeks. It was certainly a less than ideal night to be on patrol, but to Yuri Hunter, it was simply the bone-chilling whipped cream atop the shit sundae that had been his day so far. And he had barely even started his shift.

_Schump..._

_ Screeee..._

Yuri let out a tired sigh as he sat in the passenger side of his squad-car, the dark-furred wolf's eyes glazed and unfocused as he stared listlessly out the window to his side. His piercing yellow irises dully tracing the lazy dribbles of water as they crept down the pane of glass, merging and diverging at random until inevitably sinking below the window frame. The faint, dull 'pittering' of stray ice pellets against the window amidst the drops of rain only adding to the wolf's discomfort and irritation. Even though the heat within the car hummed steadily along, it did little to stop the unconscious urge to shudder every so often as the familiar sound tickled the wolf's muscle memory.

Yuri didn't mind the rain, in fact, the wolf had often preferred the overcast and gloomy weather that persisted most of the year. It was one of the things Seaotter was most famous for, and as such the wolf had known what to expect to some degree before settling down in the region. But when winter rolled around, and precipitation danced around the freezing mark without ever quite going over it, it was a different story. Whereas the gloom and cloudiness in summer kept the wolf from melting in his dark, highly heat absorbent fur, the frigid rains of the extended Yule season would punch through his pelt as though it were little more than tissue paper, allowing the biting, frigid, cold to seep deep into his bones. And once he was soaked, there was no amount of willpower he could muster to keep from devolving into little more than a shivering mess. It was indecisive weather like this that often made Yuri miss the more traditional winters he had experienced growing up in the North Meadowlands. Where the snow started falling in late October and didn't let up till early May. Sure, the white, powdery stuff was cold too, and a bitch to shovel, but at least it was easy to brush off of one's coat or fur before it had time to soak in.

But this momentary wistfulness was rather short-lived, quickly extinguished as the brief memory of his pup-hood home brought his thoughts right back to the call that had set his foul mood for the night.

_Schump..._

_ Screeee..._

Yuri let out a derisive snort, momentarily fogging the area of the window where his nose was nestled nearest to the glass. The fog hanging there for just a moment before quickly withering away under the heavy assault from the car's heater to once again reveal the faintest glimmer of the wolf's reflection in the glass. The wolf watched his eyebrows furrow tightly as his mind continued to ruminate on the conversation he had with his mother just hours before his shift.

How quickly had the call shifted to talking about his lousy brother this time? Five minutes? No, that was far too generous for his mother, it had to be something closer to two. A minute or so of the usual pretend hemming and hawing from the she-wolf about how concerned she was about him and his '_dangerous'_ work on the streets of Seaotter, quickly transitioning to his mother's retelling of the recent happenings at the family ranch before Yuri once again found himself squarely in _'Vernon territory'_. It made the lead-up conversation feel like nothing more than pointless filler. The feigned interest in Yuri's life along with the droll recounting the latest happenings at the hunter ranch acting as little more than a mere formality in order to get to the topic she was actually enthusiastic about. There were sometimes the wolf just wished his mother would cut to the quick and simply start the conversation by blathering about his wimpy little brother. At least it wouldn't carry as sharp a sting as when the conversation inevitably shifted to Vernon once again. A sting, the wolf hated to admit, that came from a lingering sense of hope that for once the runt wouldn't come up in a conversation. That for once, the call would center squarely around catching up with his mother and father, and nothing beyond that. A pang that no matter how hard the wolf tried to snuff out, seemed to force him to pick up the phone whenever his mother called.

_"Vernon this..."_ Yuri thought to himself, gritting his teeth tightly._ "Vernon that..."_ His muzzle muscles furrowed as the bile continued to rise in his throat. His dear mother had so much to say about her fifth pup Vernon, although Yuri had always preferred to call him _'Vermin_' out of spite. Vernon was the runt of their mother's second litter, and the overall smallest out of all seven pups. And to their mother and father, Vernon was considered the families _'golden pup', a_lthough they would deny it up and down if you asked them to play favorites. But Yuri knew the truth. After all, Hunter's could _'smell bullshit'_ according to his father, Dorian. A shared family trait that old law-wolf insisted allowed them to read a mammal's intentions and body language with one-hundred percent accuracy. And while Yuri wasn't sure if _'intuition'_ actually existed, let alone be carried along through a family gene-pool, he couldn't deny that consistent, uneasy sensation that welled up in his stomach whenever either his father or mother had told him something to the effect of _'We love y'all equally.'_ It was a hollow sentiment that stank to high heaven of lip service. A way to keep the bickering and jealousy amidst the pups at the hunter household to a minimum. And no matter how many times Yuri heard it, it never sat any better with him.

Since the day he was born, the balance of attention in the hunter household had shifted to little 'Vermin'. Everything he did was worthy of praise, no matter how minuscule. Hell, Yuri was certain he could recall one time their mother Audrey had given old Vermin a little plastic trophy for going an entire week without accidentally pissing on the toilet seat. If it hadn't happened, it may as well have in Yuri's eyes. At the very least it would make for a fine story to tell if he ever needed to paint a proper picture of his brother to another unsuspecting mammal before they were indoctrinated by the rest of the hunter pack into thinking Vermin's shit didn't stink.

Of course, Yuri had done his damnedest to make things _'square'_ during his time sharing a house with the runt. Native fur burns, wet willies, pinning the wolf to the floor for hours on end, and of course full-on fights when Yuri felt that _'Vermin' _was getting a bit too 'uppity' about his place in the pack, at least until his little brother had gotten old enough to put up a good struggle. The longer the fights dragged on, the more likely something in the house was bound to break in the scuffle, which in turn would get both wolves caught and punished on the spot. At that point, Yuri began to rely more heavily on mental tactics. Name-calling, teasing, and liberal use of Native Wolf pack role terminology oftentimes proving more effective than anything Yuri could cook up physically. Just referring to Vernon as an 'Omega', an outcast worthy of disdain and aversion by native wolf standards was often enough to make the runt break into tears, and subsequently take away any of the wind the whelp had stored up in his sails in an instant. Of course, it came with the added bonus that without the busted furniture and bruise marks, Yuri's misdeeds were that much harder to prove, despite hurting Vernon almost as much if not more.

But of course, _'keeping things fair', _even when he had grown into more _'quiet tactics'_, more often than not made him a villain in the eyes of his parents. And while it didn't do much for improving his standings with his mother and father, it at least got their attention on him and away from the runt for the merest of moments. And even if it resulted in getting his fur tanned, a hell of a lot of farm work, or getting sent to his bedroom without dessert, it was worth it to steal just a few moments of attention away from his glory hog of a brother. But it also cemented his role in the family as the designated trouble maker, a title that stuck to him like glue until he finally packed his bags, climbed on his motorcycle, and left the ranch in his dust.

Time changes mammals, it was a sentiment Yuri had always heard but had never really thought about too deeply before leaving his old home behind. But while on his little road trip, and subsequent time in Seaotter studying to be an officer of the law before finally entering the force proper, the wolf had naively started to take stock in the sentiment. The new mammals in his life didn't have the rap sheet that his parents and brothers kept with meticulous detail, they didn't know the wolf by the title as _'trouble maker'_ bestowed upon him by the other Hunters before he had even met them. And while Yuri would readily admit, his abrasive behavior didn't exactly win over everybody, the wolf got by far better in his new life than he ever had back home. There were mammals here that respected him, even accepted him along with his curmudgeonly ways and rather obscene and blunt sense of humor.

It was enough to give the wolf a sense of hope. A rising belief that maybe, just maybe, if he were capable of changing so much, then maybe his family could have too.

There was a time when phone calls from his mother Audrey were one of the highlights of his day. A time when his brother Vernon only came up in passing, after his mother had done a great deal of prying into his own life away from home before she listed through the ongoing events in the rest of his brother's lives. Finally, it seemed like Vernon's place in the family was no more or less important than his own. And for a while, the wolf began to seriously consider coming home for a visit. It seemed like things had really changed, and that maybe Yuri stood a chance of being absolved of his childhood sins in the eyes of his pack.

He had been a fool. He knew that now. But that didn't make the truth any easier a pill to swallow. Reality eventually came ringing, and when Yuri answered the call he was met with a mean right hook that shattered his foolish delusions.

Vernon had left home and fled to the city, fixated on putting himself through school and becoming some sorta _'artist'_ type, and from then on that was all his mother could talk about. Every call from home from that point forward Yuri would receive an unwanted info-dump on his much-beloved runt of a brother. About how hard he was working his tail off in Zootopia. about how he had shacked up with that debilitated little billy goat he had befriended from high school and was workin' some crummy fast-food job. All to pay his own way through school to pursue his _'dream'_. And with each update from Audrey on Vernon's supposed struggles brought about by striking out on his own, the she-wolf had slipped right back in into laying a disgusting amount of praise on Vernon's _'achievements'_.

At least their father was furious over it, and rightfully so. After all, in Dorian's eyes, the Hunter blood ran blue, and for that reason, Yuri and the rest of his brothers had strictly pursued jobs in law or justice-related fields. Even Xavier and Ulric, the former far too weak and limp-wristed and the latter far too squirrely to work a beat in Yuri's eyes, had chosen to work jobs in legal and forensics respectively. But Vernon, of course, had to go against the grain and get their father's hackles up. To turn his snout up at the prospect of protecting others as if it were too good for him and simply turn away from the _'family business'._ In a way, it seemed as the Vernon was simply telling his father and brothers that he was _'too good'_ for the job that wolves were made for. At least, that's how Yuri saw it. And even if his family didn't adhere to the laws and traditions kept by the North Mammalian wolves, the _'Ancient law of the Forest' _the wolf had learned in school had had never been a more apt summation of how Vernon's act of familial treason deserved to be treated.

_'Now this is the law of the jungle, as old and as true as the sky, And the wolf that shall keep it may prosper, but the wolf that shall break it must die. For the strength of the pack is the wolf, _

_and the strength of the wolf is the pack._ '

It was something Yuri was more than happy to enforce when it came to his brother, but what really surprised him, was his father's own willingness to take up the mantra, even if the older wolf probably didn't see it that way. Still, unlike their mother, he refused to support the runt emotionally or financially, telling Vernon in no uncertain terms that if he wanted to pursue a pipe-dream, he'd be doing it on his own. It was a fair judgment and sentence, that much Yuri would certainly agree on, that was if his mother would ever let him get a word in edgewise over the phone. In fact, it was probably too fair for the whelp. After all, this was classic Vernon being Vernon. If he wasn't getting enough attention, he'd do something over the top and dramatic to get it, and this was just another one of his stunts. Just like his brief bad pup phase in junior high, just another show to maintain relevance among the pack. And Yuri knew how to call it, as he knew he was guilty of his fair share of the same when he lived at home. He may have been a pot calling the kettle black, but at the very least he made peace with the fact that he was aware of it.

But despite it all, to Audrey their father was simply being stubborn and unfair. That he was acting like their grandfather had treated him when he chose to go into law and so on and so forth. It all blended together in a slurry of pro-Vermin propaganda. And whenever Yuri tried to make a point, or interact with his mother during one of her rants, she would always chastise him.

_"Oh, you sound just like your father!"_ The she-wolf would scold. Or, _"Don't talk that way about yer brother!"_ It was like being home again, despite being a good two-thousand miles away. Sitting there with the phone against his ear as he sat through what felt like hours of his mother's sermon, every objection finding the wolf brow-beaten down by his mother's overwhelming apologist and defensive rebuttals until eventually the wolf completely gave up on speaking altogether. He would simply let her ramble on and on until she tired herself, and then finish off with the obligatory, _"I love you, stay safe my little pup." _All the while the wolf would stew, his anger and stress reaching a near boil as he endured each endless venting session with his mouth practically sewn shut. His stomach twisting into tight painful knots he bit his lip to keep from uttering so much as a sound, and all the while his hatred for Vernon to the point where he was certain it was starting to burn and ulcer into his stomach lining.

_ Schump..._

_ Screeee..._

The wolf's ear twitched in irritation as he silently seethed. The chilly, miserable sleet, his parents, his family..._'Vermin'_. All of it seemed to be piling on more and more in his mind the longer he silently seethed. Under normal circumstances, he should have been able to contain it. To control himself, and keep from letting any pertinent information that might lead to a discussion with his partner about his _'problems' _back home.

_Schump..._

_Screeee..._

But on top of all of that, the relative silence was frequently, infuriatingly cut through at even intervals by the maddening sound of...

_Schump..._

_Screeee..._

"Can't we do anythin' about that damn busted wiper!" The wolf suddenly snapped, his piercing yellow eyes fixing on the offending washer blade in question, staring daggers as it dragged awkwardly across the passenger side of the windshield.

"Ah, he finally speaks..." Came a reply from the driver's seat, followed by a dull chuckle.

Yuri lowered his gaze at the slim, rather nebbish looking buck deer across from him. The scrawny stag pressed his glasses up onto his muzzle slightly as he flashed the wolf a small smirk.

"At first I was sort of enjoying the lack of self-fellating bravado and ego-stroking you'd normally be spouting." The stag rolled his eyes, shaking his head softly in dismissal. "But once it hit the fifteen-minute mark of uncomfortable silence, would you believe I actually started to miss it?"

Lance Eckhart had been Yuri's partner since he had started working on the SOPD, and upon first appearance, the rather small, spindly mule deer looked like the kind of mammal that Yuri would have usually turned his nose up at. His fashion sense, even on the job, gave a false air of sophistication, which was only made worse by the deer's usual manner of speaking. Lance had a nasty habit of lacing almost everything he said with a tinge of condescension. As if every statement, however innocuous, was the buck looking down his muzzle at whoever he was speaking to. Taking it all in at once, it screamed stereotypical _'Seaotter intelligentsia'_ type. The kind of mammal who buried his muzzle in books and online forums but had about as much street smarts and practical skills as a corn cob.

But when it came to judging a book by its cover, Yuri knew it was far from wise to write a mammal off based solely on outward appearances. And despite how often Lance's attitude and slight sense of smugness managed to get the wolf's hackles up, the stag had proven more than enough times that he was worth his salt when it came to police work. He was dedicated, driven, and when it came right down to it, really cared about the work at paw. And when it came to consoling victims, well, Yuri could admit the stag's bedside manner was far better than his own. It was admirable in Yuri's eyes, which was as close to an admission of respect as Yuri could muster for most mammals.

Unlike Yuri, who only ever wore the 'Seaotter' standard blues, Lance seemed to always dress with an apparent aim to look as much like he was playing the role of private detective as possible. Under his standard-issue bulletproof vest, the stag wore a pin-stripe dress shirt and deep gray clip-on tie. And somewhere under his seemingly over-sized police belt for a mammal of his frame, the buck wore a pair of tight black jeans supported by a clearly unnecessary pair of pale gray suspenders making it appear as though he were trying and failing to ape the long out of style noir film look. Even the glasses that framed his deep brown and speckled muzzle seemed to have chosen more for fashion rather than function, although Lance had never denied that his appearance was at least somewhat important to him. Still, it was a waste of effort in Yuri's eyes, if not for the pointlessness of trying to be stylish, all the work he had put into his choice in clothing was never enough to distract first-timers from his most notable feature, his apparent lack of antlers. Instead, the stag simply had nubs that had been shaven down to about an inch out from his skull.

It was already the standard policy of the SOPD that if you were a mammal species capable of growing horns in any capacity, that there was a limit as to how long you were allowed to keep them. There were certain exclusions of course, and the limit had been adapted pending several 'civil cases' that had made the organization softer on enforcement, but Lance had seemingly taken the decree one-hundred percent to heart in his choice to have them shaved as close to his skull as he could safely manage. According to the stag, this was to make it easier to get in and out places. It was less of a hassle for the buck, and seeing how his antlers fell out every year regardless of what he did, it seemed pointless to Lance to grow and maintain them at the cost of job performance despite the social importance. Yuri already knew a deer's antlers were a lot like a ram's horns or a fox's tail. The bigger or more ornate the equipment, the more virile and masculine the mammal attached to them appeared. It earned you more respect among your own kind without the need to even utter a single word, and when it came to attracting a mate, a fine pair of antlers acted like a big, bright neon sign above a stags head that spelled out in big, bold letters _'I'm fertile'. _

In some way, the wolf could respect the level of devotion his partner had shown for his work at paw, but had Yuri been in his partner's pelt, he would have wanted to grow his antlers out to be as large as he could get away with, even if they were set to fall out every winter. To the wolf it was more than worth putting up with getting stuck in a few door frames from time to time if it meant eligible, attractive females would form a line just for the chance to get with him.

The stag gingerly scooped his coffee out of the car's cup holder, taking a small sip before stabbing a finger lazily in the direction of the offending wiper and drawing Yuri's eyes to it as it dragged across the windshield. The blade shaking sharply as the bent arm struggled to make the return trip to the center of the screen.

"Besides, you only have yourself to blame for that malfunctioning wiper you know." Lance chided. "You were the one who floored it into that suspect, the fact th-."

"He was pullin' out a gun!" Yuri snapped, gritting his teeth bitterly at the stag."It was either floor it, or take the chance of gettin' us shot while we was gettin' out of the car to try and catch 'em on foot!"

Lance scoffed, which only stood to annoy the dusky black wolf further.

"You were lucky he actually had a weapon. If he hadn't the Seaotter News Network would have had a field day." Lance replied, rolling his eyes. "Those hounds are always starving for a good '_police brutality' _story."

Yuri flashed the stag a sneer. "What'd I tell ya about usin' the _'h'_ word about wolves?"

Lance merely scoffed. "If they act like 'hounds', I will refer to them as such." The buck scoffed. "It's not like you haven't said worse things, and in-front of actual witnesses no-less."

Lance simply rolled his eyes as the buck shifted his full attention back to the road.

"And do I need to mention how much extra paperwork we had to do thanks to that little stunt of yours?" The stag added, taking another sip of his coffee.

Yuri scoffed. "Alright, next time I'll let 'em shoot y'all first." The wolf gestured a paw outward at nothing in particular. "Besides, y'all like paper work, ya told the chief you prefer it."

The stag rolled his eyes. "I tell the chief what he wants to hear unless it's absolutely necessary." The stag replied, throwing the wolf a side glance. "I'm afraid we can't all be as blunt and tactless as you are my friend."

That earned another snort from the wolf as the buck turned his gaze back to the slick, dark highway road.

"Although, I will admit paperwork is safer." The buck chuckled.

"Sides', that was a week ago!" Yuri snorted, crossing his arms indignantly. "You should have called it in fer repair by now!"

The stag rolled his eyes. " I did genius." Lance shook his head. " But they won't be able to fix it for at least two weeks."

"TWO WEEKS?!" Yuri spat, slamming a paw against his armrest. " Rut me! Are you serious?!" The wolf spat.

"No Yuri, I'm lying with you simply to get under your pelt. I enjoy having not one, but two things constantly screeching in my ears." The stag with a sarcastic scoff. "Of course I'm serious."

"The damn greasy lil' rats." Yuri hissed, crossing his arms once more. "What do they do in that garage 'side from sippin' latte's and checkin' their phones all day?" The wolf spat. "Probably only said that cause they're tryin' to piss me off."

Lance rolled his eyes. "I refer back to my previous point on how 'you've said worse things'." The buck retorted, earning another irritated scoff from the wolf.

"Seriously, have you ever considered referring to them as 'greasy rats' might be part of the reason they might want to antagonize you?" The stag chuckled, raising his coffee to his muzzle once again as he took a long, slow sip. Drawing the cup back, the deer let out a soft sigh of appreciation before quirking a brow as he regarded his partner.

"And what's wrong with liking lattes?" Lance added.

Yuri let out a dull, exasperated groan in response, slapping a paw over his eyes and dragging it down his face slowly.

"It's on the passenger side." Lance muttered. "That makes it a _'nonessential'_ repair." The stag took another sip of his coffee. "So we're on the back of the line, and that's barring any emergency repairs that may bump us further down the queue."

_"Non-essential"_ The wolf grumbled mockingly. "Maybe I should head down there and me and them greasy rats can figure out exactly which o' their appendages 'er _'nonessential'_." The wolf hissed, his tone laced with bile and sarcasm.

With a sigh, Yuri slumped deeper into his seat. For a moment, the same cavalcade of soft noises filled the cab. The hum of the heater, the pitter of rain, and the occasional screech of the wiper as the wolf returned to stewing in his own thoughts.

"You haven't touched your coffee you know." The buck piped up, cutting the silence once more as he placed his coffee back in the cup holder. Giving the lid of the taller looking cup a tap with a finger, Lance glanced back at the wolf.

"I imagine it's practically as frigid as that sleet out there by now."

"Ain't like I need it anyway..." Yuri grumbled, rolling his eyes. "Wolves are nocturnal mammals..." The wolf turned a glaring iris in the direction of the stag, flashing him a tiresome glance. "Or did y'all ferget that?"

The wolf shook his head dismissively. "Hell, why dy'all think I chose to work night shifts, just fer kicks?"

Seeming to get the hint that the wolf was far from being in a talkative mood, the stag slowly turned his attention back to the road, shifting over to another lane of the highway before draping both hooves on the steering wheel. Yuri watched from the corner of his eye as his partner pressed his palms off of the edge wheel, his frame tensing up for a moment as he appeared to be pressing himself more deeply into the driver's seat. He held like that for a few seconds before his body slackened, the buck letting out a long, drawn out breath of air as he settled back into his seat.

For a few moments Yuri had relative silence again, the stag seemingly distracting himself by tapping his hooves idly atop the steering wheel a few times before returning to his default driving posture. The black-furred wolf let out a quiet sigh of relief. It seemed his conversation-ender had more or less worked, and that the wolf was going to get through his shift without the buck trying to pry. At least, that's what he had hoped.

"You want to talk about it?" Lance suddenly blurted out, glancing back at Yuri from the corner of his eye.

Yuri let out a dull groan, quietly cursing himself as he shifted up more tightly against the passenger side door and away from his partner. He could tell by the glint in the stag's baby blues that Lance had shifted into _'analytical mode' _as they seemingly began to scan the wolf for any hint of some form of deeper insight. Not that it mattered, it didn't take a genius to figure out something was on the wolf's mind after his little _'outburst.'_ Of course Yuri would be so unlucky. After all, having any sort of hope hadn't worked for him yet, so why would it have worked now?

"Talk about what?" Yuri spat bluntly.

Lance lolled his head back slightly, shaking it in what appeared to be mild disbelief.

"Oh come on..." The buck replied with a roll of his eyes. "You only ever get quiet like this; if you'll pardon my paraphrase one of your wolf expressions, 'once in a blue moon.'" Lance said with a smirk.

"Ugh..." Yuri snorted, trying to press himself further into the passenger door to get as much distance between himself and the stags glare as possible. It was a futile effort of course, deep down the wolf knew it. But there was a part of the wolf that couldn't help but cling to the prospect that if he tried hard enough, he might just disappear from the car altogether.

"That was lousy, even fer you." Yuri hissed quietly.

"Oh please..." Lance scoffed, flicking a dismissive hoof at the wolf. "Like your constant stream of dirty jokes is any better?"

Yuri let out a sharp, derisive snort as he nestled that much more tightly against the door.

"But my point still stands." The stag continued, turning his full attention back to the road, and away from the shrinking wolf.

"I only ever see you get this quiet and miserable when you either struck out hard with a she-wolf, or your family did something to piss you off." The deer glanced back at the wolf from the corner of his eye, his blue iris seeming to twinkle inquisitively. "So which is it?"

Yuri rolled his eyes, shrinking deeper into his shoulders as he continued his lame attempt to avert the stag's gaze. Despite Yuri's firm promise to himself to simply never, ever discuss his family with any of his coworkers in Seaotter, working closely with one mammal for nearly five years meant that he would slip up from time to time, especially when he was in high spirits. A mention of Xavier's work as a lawyer here, or his mother's delectable pies there. The wolf had left more than enough breadcrumbs that even a mammal that lacked the stag's innate ability to absorb even the slightest snippet of information in order to paint a broader picture would have been able to piece together that the wolf's family life was less than stellar. But Yuri had also made the terrible mistake of letting his guard down around the stag enough to actually confide some degree of information with him. He had allowed the line between co-worker and acquaintance to blur a little too much, and now he was paying the price for his negligence.

The wolf let out a long, drawn-out sigh.

"This ain't a conversation I'm willin' to have right now Lance." The wolf huffed. "So just step off, alright?"

The buck turned his gaze back to the road, a knowing smirk crossing his muzzle.

"Family, got it." The buck replied, adjusting his spectacles.

Yuri let out a loud groan, slinking deeper into his seat as he clasped a paw over his eyes.

"Your brother again right?" Lance continued. "The 'idjit' as you call him?"

Yuri parted his fingers slightly, allowing a single eye to peer at the stag just into to catch him gesturing a hoof outward, rolling it lazily.

"Granted when you have talked about them you've called them all idiots at some point so it's hard to tell which one you-."

"Vernon." The wolf hissed. "The runt..." The wolf grumbled as he closed his fingers again, casting his eye in darkness.

"Ah..." The buck's tone wavered slightly, telling the wolf that stag's inquisitive nature was starting to give way to unease. If there was one thing Yuri had made clear to the buck when the topic had arisen before, was that while his family in itself was a tense topic, there was one brother in particular that he was never to press the wolf on if he valued his health and well-being, and it was clear that Lance was considering whether or not he was willing to take a chance on exploring the issue.

The cab was silent for a few moments, save for the icy ambiance of the storm outside and the irritating screech of the broken wiper as it dragged back and forth across the windshield.

"I-I understand your brother is a tense subject my friend..." The stag began, his tone somewhat entreating as he spoke, as if pleading for the wolf to hear him out. " Believe me, I know how terrible brothers can be, what with having two older brothers that constantly-."

"No you don't." Yuri hissed quietly. The wolf could feel a warmth starting to swell inside of him as his ire began to flare. "You ain't got no idea."

"Then talk to me Yuri." Lance replied pleadingly. "Tell me about it and maybe I can help some-."

"No." Yuri replied bluntly. "I don't want to." The wolf hissed. He could feel the knot in his gut began to gnarl, the bile in his throat rising again as his mind was screaming for the stag to simply drop the subject rather than force Yuri to shout him down. Dragging his paw away from his eyes, the wolf could see that Lance's attention was almost entirely on him, the buck now leaning slightly over his armrest to regard the crumpled wolf.

Lance tilted his head slightly, offering the wolf a small, but genuine smile.

"Come now..." Lance added, quirking a brow. " It's not like I'm a gossip, you know I won't tell a soul. All I want to do is help."

"Y'all are treadin' on some thin ass ice Lance." Yuri snorted, crossing his arms more tightly this time as he tried to wriggle further up against the door as the blood coursing through his veins neared the boiling point. "Just let it lie, fer both of our sakes."

With a disheartened sigh, the buck turned his attention back on the highway, the wolf letting out a quiet sigh of his own as the miserable rainy ambiance returned to the vehicle. Even the shrill screech of the warped wiper was a welcome alternative to entertaining such a personal conversation with the stag. Yuri was in no mood for any sort of _'deep discussion'_ tonight, or any discussion for that matter, not after the day he'd had. At a minimum, he might be able to find it in himself to respond to calls and simple yes or no answers, but anything more than that was certain to wind him up that much further.

More than anything the wolf wanted to be alone, far away from his partner and job for the rest of the evening. But he was willing to accept returning to the relative silence the cab had previously afforded, even if the squeal of the warped, shuddering wiper continued to cut through it. With enough effort, perhaps the wolf could tune it out.

"Look, if this is about saving face, or some semblance of maintaining bravado I-."

Yuri let out a loud snarl, turning sharply to face his partner as he bared his teeth.

"By Oldwyn's great grey muzzle!" Yuri snapped, running a paw through his mohawk exasperatedly. "Would y'all just drop it already!? Please!?"

"Okay, okay!" Lance shrunk in his seat, snapping his attention back to the highway as he cowered under the wolf's angry gaze. Yuri stared steadily at the stag, his muscles tense and nostrils flared as he awaited an eventual rebuttal. He knew the deer had a habit of acting like a squirrel with a nut when it came to things like this. He was hard to dissuade, and sometimes even Yuri's brand of fear instilling anger failed to subdue the inquisitive buck. But Lance remained quiet, the stag's eyes focused squarely and unflinchingly on the road, and slowly the satisfaction that the wolf had finally gotten through to him began to settle in.

Yuri's muscles eased slightly, and soon the wolf shifted back into his seat, leaning his head on a paw as he turned his attention back to the rain, the wolf letting out a tired sigh as he tried to lose himself once more in the soft sounds beyond the squad car.

"Well...I'm always open to talk about it if you...uh...change your mind."

Yuri groaned, drawing his free paw down his face once more. Why the hell didn't this deer know when to shut up?

"I mean, I'm not exactly a therapist but-."

"I swear to the gods Lance..." Yuri growled lowly. "If you keep followin' this line of questionin', I'm either gonna _'A'_..." The wolf held up a paw, sticking out a single finger as he counted it with his other hand. "Push you out of the car, er' _'B'_" The wolf stuck up a second digit, grasping it with his other finger as he continued. "Jump out of my side of the car." The wolf growled.

"Either way, one of us is endin' up in the hospital if you keep this up." The wolf hissed, craning his head around to face his partner once more as his facial muscles tensed with anger. Yuri's muzzle curled, revealing his teeth and gums as he glared at the stag seated across from him, his ears splaying tightly against his head.

"So. Just. DROP! IT!" Yuri snarled, biting the air with an audible snap that caused the stag to cower in response. If nothing else worked, playing to the stag's subconscious prey instincts was worth a shot.

For a moment, there was a glimmer of real fear in Lance's eyes. It was something the wolf rarely saw. But almost as quickly as it had come, it was gone, the buck's expression quickly shifting into something that seemed to scream to the wolf '_I give up'_. Lance let out an exasperated sigh.

"Alright, alright..." The deer murmured, turning his attention to the road. The stag seemed to roll his shoulders as if he were trying to shake away a lingering chill as he leaned closer to the steering wheel. "Another time..."

Yuri rolled his eyes as he slumped against the passenger side door once again, pressing his palm firmly against his cheek.

"Yeah..." The wolf scoffed. "Maybe..."

Soon enough, the familiar ambiance of the cold, miserable night returned to the car. The steady squeal of the wiper now a reprieve compared to fielding the stag's aggressive snooping. Yuri closed his eyes, trying to focus his mind on the sounds alone as he began to take slow, concentrated breaths. Anything to drive his thoughts away from that call. Away from his mother, from Vernon. Even for just a few moments.

"So..." Lance muttered quietly..."You watch Hockey, right?"

Yuri turned, ready to let out another ear-splitting snarl before the nature of Lance's question actually hit him. His furrowed muzzle muscles and brow easing slightly as the wolf slowly closed his mouth. Yuri blinked dumbly for a moment, the wolf silently staring at the buck as Lance's attention remained fixed on the road.

A small smirk crept across Yuri's muzzle, eventually splitting into a smile that showed off just a hint of his fangs. The wolf let out a dull chuckle.

"I Do?" Yuri had been caught so off guard that the wolf's reply came out sounding more like a question. The wolf shook his head softly, letting out another chuckle. "Do you?"

Lance turned his head slightly, flashing the wolf a smirk of his own. "How about last night's game?"

The wolf crossed his arms, quirking a brow as he regarded the stag's seemingly earnest question. He had never taken the buck for a hockey watcher_. _After all, the stag's build and tastes always seemed to be the epitome of what Yuri would refer to as a_ 'heavy reader'_. He could imagine that the only time Lance would ever be caught dead with some sort of sports gear in his hooves would be if it was a piece of evidence he was looking over. That perception is why the wolf largely kept quiet in regards to his taste sports aside from an errant comment here and there. To Yuri, what was the point of wasting time talking about a subject that the listener didn't grasp or really care about?

But at the very least the buck presenting him with the opportunity to talk shop was a more palatable alternative to watching rain drizzle down the side window all night long. And Yuri was happy to take him up on it, albeit tentatively. After all, the was still a chance that this would somehow lead back to discussing Yuri's _'problem' _somehow. And the wolf wanted to remain vigilant in case some sort of bait and switch was at paw.

"Woolshington Warriors got creamed last night." Yuri said with a chuckle. "Not that I'm at all surprised. Y'all go up against the Sahara Slashers and yer bound to get mopped across the ice six ways till Sunday."

Lance flashed the wolf a look of total disbelief.

"Don't tell me you're a Slashers fan?" The stag shook his head dismissively.

Yuri crossed his arms, a proud smirk crossing his muzzle as he glanced back at his partner.

"Die-hard fan since I was a pup thank y'all very much." The wolf's grin widened to reveal his fangs. "They're the best in the entire North Mammalian League and that's a fact!"

Lance scoffed. "Don't you have any sense of loyalty?" The stag shook his head. "What about your home team? Don't you take any pride in Seaotter?"

Yuri rolled his eyes. "First off, I wasn't exactly born here as y'all probably recall." The wolf replied. "I'm a Zoot pup, so if I should have any sort of preference fer a home team it would be the Meadowland Mashers."

The wolf shook his head, letting out a dismissive snort. "O'course they're a minor league team, not that it matters." The wolf chuckled. "Them damn grazers couldn't slap-shot their way out of a paper bag."

Lance opened his muzzle to speak, but Yuri cut him off. The wolf was on a roll now, and the conversation was doing wonders to dissolve the knot in his gut.

"And secondly, seems awful dumb to support a team just cause y'all share the same region." The wolf gestured a paw out at nothing in particular, rolling a wrist as he continued. "You want to win me over? Then show me that y'all can hang with the big dogs." The wolf chuckled. "Talent and skill are what I look fer in my teams, and them Sahara Slashers got both in spades."

Lance rolled his eyes. "Zootopia has what?" The stag shrugged. "Twelve teams at least? And four of them considered 'Major League' teams? And all that technically representing one city?" The buck continued, gesturing a hoof of his own. "That's excessive at least and unfair at most." The buck gestured a lazy hoof of his own. "They must have so much talent to snipe from one another at a local level one could call it cheating!" Lance shook his head. "Hell, there should be a rule against having so many teams from one place in the league!"

"How is it cheatin' when most of the other teams suck?" Yuri snapped back. " I mean the Tundratown Terrors are the closest talent-wise when compared to the Slashers, and they're still leagues below 'em." The wolf argued. "They just know how to draft 'em in Sahara Square."

Yuri smirked, giving the buck a playful swat on the shoulder. "And there's a grand defense of yer precious 'Woolshington Warriors." The wolf chuckled. _"Zootopia has too many good players!" _Yuri's tone shifted into a mocking tone. "_That's the only reason we lost!"_

Lance snorted. "I'll have you know, the Woolshington Warriors are a solid team." The stag lolled his head uneasily, biting the corner of his lip. "They just...weren't in top form last night."

Yuri chuckled. "Mam' those grassbags haven't been in top form since the eighties!" The wolf laughed heartily. "They should just get out of the way and let the Seaotter Shellshockers trade major league status with 'em." The wolf flashed his partner a bemused grin. "It'd be doin' a mercy fer them and the region."

Lance chuckled. "If I recall, didn't the Slashers pick up some fox in his forties recently?" The buck rolled his eyes slightly. "I mean, if you want to talk about a team not being in top form since the eighties, you may not want to prop up a team that actually picked up a literal relic from that era."

"Hey!" Yuri snapped at the buck, furrowing his brow in annoyance. "He's in his thirties, not forties!" The wolf huffed, crossing his arms indignantly. "And If I may point out, at least five of them goals last night were from ol'_ 'Red Robin' _Rowan himself!" The wolf chuckled dully. "He may be the oldest rookie in the game, but the fella's got the skills to back it up, as well as the lineage."

Lance tilted his head slightly, offering the wolf a dull, half-lidded stare.

"'_Red Robin'_ eh?" The stag asked. "I take it that's the _'lineage'_ you're referring to?"

Yuri shook his head, letting out a chuckle.

"Well, every damn fox thinks they're related to ol' Sir Robin Hood don't they?" The wolf smirked. "It's the only positive role model they got to cling to, and they ain't never gonna let it go."

That drew a chuckled from Lance, the buck covering his muzzle in clear effort to stifle a laugh at the off-color statement. The stag's reaction only served to widen Yuri's creeping grin.

"But I meant his actual Pa, ol' _'Red Streak' _Rowan who actually played at the tail end of the eighties." The wolf's chuckling trailing off into a pleasant sigh as he settled more comfortably into his seat. "He was prolly my Pa's favorite player."

Lance flashed the wolf a smirk before shifting his full attention back to the road, the stag changing lanes to overtake a slower vehicle before shifting back into the fast lane once again.

The stag shook his head, letting out an amused sigh of his own.

"Well, I will admit." The buck said, tapping his fingers against the steering wheel idly. " What you said about The Seaotter Shellshockers is true." The buck lamented. "They do have talent."

The buck offered an uneasy shrug."But I mean, deer and sheep are like _'this'_." The buck held up a hand toward the wolf, twisting his fingers around one another as best as he could. "We have sort of a species kinship, so I can't help but feel compelled to favor them over those otters."

Yuri smirked, letting out a dull chuckle as he pat the buck on his shoulder.

"Hell." Yuri smirked. "I don't like 'em either." The wolf shrugged. "But I ain't never cared fer otter folk."

Lance chuckled, shaking his head dismissively.

"Sure picked the perfect city to live in then." The buck smirked. "Let alone vow to protect and serve."

Yuri laughed, the wolf finally scooping his coffee into his paw and bringing it up this his muzzle.

"Sure did." The wolf grinned. "Nothin' makes my day quite like putting the scare into them little spiny toothed bastards." The wolf momentarily pressed the lid of his coffee to his lips, only to draw it back and flash his partner a mock-serious expression. "Only if they are criminals though."

"Uh-huh..." Lance replied, rolling his eyes slightly. "Whatever you tell yourself to help sleep at night."

With that the wolf took a sharp swing of his coffee, cringing slightly as the now fairly cool liquid slithered down his throat. It was far from pleasant, but at the very least his little conversation with Lance had managed to improve his mood.

Drawing the cup back, the wolf slipped it back into the cup holder, sticking his tongue out in disgust.

"Ugh." Yuri muttered. "Look's like you was right." The wolf said with a dull chuckle. "There's no way I'm drinkin' that sludge now."

Lance flashed the wolf his usual 'know-it-all' expression. A look that under normal circumstances would have gotten under Yuri's pelt in an instant. But the wolf was feeling relaxed enough to let it slide.

"I tend to be." Lance chuckled.

With a sigh, Yuri placed his paws on his knees, leaning forward slightly to stretch his back.

"Y'know Lance..." The wolf muttered, quirking a brow as he turned his head back toward the buck. "I never really took ya' fer a hockey fan."

Lance winced slightly, a nervous smirk lacing his features as the stag adjusted his glasses.

"Well..." The buck murmured. "If we're being honest, I'm actually not into hockey at all."

Yuri scrunched his muzzle in confusion, the wolf's ears drooping slightly.

"What?" The wolf muttered confusedly.

Lance lolled his head from side to side, shifting in his seat uneasily.

"My mate has really gotten into it recently." The deer chuckled. "She's a real fanatic, practically obsessed with it. And while I've never been able to get into it myself, I've gleaned quite a bit of information from her on the subject." The stag offered the wolf a smirk. "A good buck at least listens to his doe's interests even if he doesn't share them."

Yuri blinked dully a few times before shaking his head in disbelief.

"Then what was the point of even talkin' about it iffin' y'all don't really care about the subject!?" The wolf spat.

Lance shrugged.

"I just was trying to make conversation is all." The buck flashed the wolf a hopeful smile. "I was hoping at least it would perk you up enough to set things back to normal." The stag chuckled. "Given the choice between your rather _'colorful'_ commentary and deafening silence, I much prefer the former."

Yuri furrowed his brow, a slow smile creeping across his muzzle as the wolf let out a dull chuckle. It had been a bait and switch after all, although it was completely innocuous. Apparently, it was all an effort to clear the dense, uncomfortable atmosphere that had built up in the car after his previous faux-pas. It was clever to the point that it should have pissed the wolf off. But the talk had done the wolf good, and for that reason, Yuri could do little more than at most manage a light, playful jab to the stag's shoulder before leaning back into his seat. His smirk widening as Lance tried to play off the need to rub the impact site with his other hoof.

"I tell ya, if all of that was yer lady talkin'. I'd say she's a keeper" The wolf chuckled, swatting his knee lightly with a paw. " I'd kill to have a mate like that, even if she was a grazer."

"Well, when it comes to hockey she can get a little..." The buck tried to stifle a laugh. "Intense."

Yuri chuckled. "So, a real super fan then huh?"

"Understatement." The buck chuckled, scooping up his coffee and taking a slow sip.

"If she heard you talking that way about her _'Wooly Warriors'_ she'd probably skin you alive." The buck added, setting his coffee back in its holder.

Yuri's smile grew mischievous, the wolf flashing his fangs.

"Mhh..." Yuri growled slightly. "I do like 'em feisty."

Lance blurted out something that seemed like a mixture of chuckle and a scoff, resulting into more of a choking laugh as the stag clasped a hoof to his muzzle. "Oh please..."

"Naw, seriously." The wolf grinned. "What she look like? Y'all got a picture?" Yuri continued, leaning in closer to the small stag. "Ain't right y'all been with this girl fer over a year and y'all ain't never shown yer partner a picture of her before!"

Lance recoiled, swatting the wolf away with a free hoof. "Because you never cared before your _'little officer' _decided he might be interested!" The buck scoffed. "And all that fact does is give me even less incentive to show you!" Lance spat, trying to hold back his laughter. "Besides, would you really be willing to take on the stigma of being labeled a _'prey-chaser'_ on top of your already dubious reputation at the station?"

The wolf shrugged, offering the buck a sly smirk before placing his paws behind his head and leaning back into them.

"Eh, some o' my brothers are already cross-pred dating, why not take it a step further and outdo 'em all?" The wolf chuckled. "It's like that bimbo pop singer's song said...what was the line?" The wolf extended a paw, rolling his wrist as he gestured outward at nothing in particular. "Y'know, that one earworm of a song that was on the radio constantly a few summer's back?"

"You mean Gazelle's '_Try Everything'_?" The stag replied, letting out an exasperated sigh.

Yuri snapped his fingers before pointing a claw in his partner's direction vigorously.

"That's the one!" The wolf replied with a scoff. "I'm kinda surprised I couldn't remember it seein' as how it practically drove me to drinkin' from hearin' it so much." Yuri chuckled.

"She's actually a very nice animal." The buck chided. "Not a _'bimbo'_ as you would put it."

The wolf let out a scoff. "Yeah, public interviews are a real great way to gauge a mammal's character." The wolf shook his head dismissively. "And here I thought y'all were smarter than that."

Lance rolled his eyes.

"Still...she's purty damn hot." The wolf muttered. "Grazer or not I wouldn't turn down a night with her." Yuri chuckled as he leaned upon the buck's shoulder. "I'd love to grab onto those horns and ride her like she was my motorcycle!"

"Sweet Cervidwen!" The buck laughed, swatting the wolf back into his seat. "I'm trying to drive here! I don't need that mental image thank you!"

Yuri let out a barking laugh, slapping his knee with a paw "Like you wouldn't do the same iffin' you had the chance!"

"I have a mate!" The stag retorted.

"So you say." Yuri retorted, crossing his arms as a smug grin crawled across his muzzle. "Yet y'all still won't show me a picture of her."

"That's because I don't want you drooling all over my phone you absolute horndog!" The stag laughed.

"Hey, I can't help it." The wolf said with a shrug. "First, y'all are tellin' me she loves hockey, then yer willin' to turn down gettin' some Gazelle action over the mate y'all already have? It's got me thinkin' she's a real catch!" The wolf smirked. "With y'all talkin' up yer mate that much y'all got me fixin' to see what venison tastes like!"

"Ugh, stop!" The buck protested.

"Hey!" The wolf was cackling now. "This is what y'all wanted right? You wanted me talkin', so I'm talkin'!"

"Ugh..." The stag's head sunk slightly as he shook it weakly from side to side. "I think I'm starting to miss the silence."

Yuri let out another loud, barking laugh, the wolf taking a moment to wipe a tear from his eye as his laughter slowly trailed away into a pleasant sigh.

"Still Lance..." The wolf murmured quietly. "I'm real happy for ya." Yuri admitted. "Sounds like y'all got yerself a solid gal."

Yuri watched as a warm smile crept across Lance's muzzle, a look of adoration overtaking his features as he stared beyond the road ahead.

"I'm lucky to have her." Lance cooed. "I really am."

A jarring, yet familiar crackling chirp suddenly cut through the warm atmosphere in the cab, forcing Yuri's ears to attention as his eyes flicked over to the dashboard radio. From the other end of the line a somewhat unsteady, nervous voice began to speak.

"Uh-uh...?" The voice of the dispatcher trickled through, his tone carrying with it sense of nervous uncertainty. "I-I need the closest available car to attend R-Redmound General Hospital on Scallop Avenue." The dispatcher croaked weakly.

Yuri glanced at his partner, quirking a brow.

"How close are we?" Yuri asked.

Yuri watched as the buck took a quick glance at the GPS mounted to their dashboard before leaning over the steering wheel in a clear effort to peer through the inky blackness of the cold Seattle night as if to second guess the device. Leaning back into his seat, the buck looked back to Yuri.

"About two minutes probably." Lance replied, gesturing a hoof at the upcoming overhead sign. "It's the exit after this one." The stag continued. "I doubt they'll find a car closer than that."

With a nod, Yuri picked up the receiver, pressing his thumb against the open mic button as he brought it near his muzzle.

"Copy that dispatch." Yuri replied. "This is squad car one-fifteen."

The radio crackled for a moment before the same, shaky voice replied.

"Uh...?" Behind the usual feedback noise, the wolf was sure he could hear the frantic flipping of pages from the other end of the signal. The rustling of pages continued, lingering on for several seconds until the same uncertain voice finally piped back up.

"O-one-fifteen?" The dispatch questioned.

Yuri sighed. So much for his good mood. Only a good twenty or so seconds and that hare was already trying his patience. "Officer's Hunter and Eckart." The wolf shook his head. "For the eight-hundredth time Eustace."

"Try to be patient with him." lance whispered quietly. "He's only been on dispatch for a week."

Yuri flashed his partner a rather bored-looking expression before shifting his attention back to the radio.

"Y'all want to tell us what we're dealin' with here?" Yuri added before releasing the call button.

"Hold on..." The bunny replied, quickly followed by the sound of more papers being ruffled trough. Every so often the radio would emit a _'clank'_, followed by what sounded to like a few whispered _'bunny-centric_ swear words.

"T-ten-sixteen?" The voice finally replied, his tone of uncertainty still heavily evident.

Yuri glanced at his partner once more, the two mammals exchanging a rather dubious glance.

"A domestic disturbance...?" Lance muttered. "At the hospital?"

Yuri scoffed, shaking his head. "That can't be right." the wolf grumbled.

"I mean, it's not out of the question, I guess...?" The buck replied.

Lance was technically right, but with how uncertain the hare sounded over the radio, coupled with just how rare such an occurrence would be, the wolf was sure the rabbit had simply screwed up. It was the most logical conclusion, but the wolf tried to hold his ire until he could confirm it. With a sigh, Yuri pressed down the call button again.

"Eustace." The wolf spoke, squeezing the bridge of his muzzle between his thumb and forefinger and drawing it down his muzzle in annoyance. "Is it possible fer y'all to give us a little more detail?"

There was another burst of static mixed with the shrill squeal of some sort of feedback, which caused the wolf to draw back from the radio wincing in pain. It was clear the rabbit had pressed something erroneously, which had messed with the dispatch frequency. Clasping a paw to his ear, Yuri pressed the call button again sharply as the wolf reached his breaking point with the inexperienced hare.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE Y'ALL DOIN' OVER THERE, PRESSIN' BUTTONS JUST TO TRY AND MAKE ME DEAF!?" The wolf barked.

"SORRY, SORRY!" The rabbit pleaded as the radio static returned to normal levels. Once again, pieces of paper could be heard ruffling as Yuri reluctantly drew his paw from his ear.

"Uh...let's see..." The rabbit murmured. "Apparently there's a nurse on staff there who needs to speak to a police officer urgently." The bunny spoke. "Wouldn't say why..."

Yuri rolled his eyes, his tolerance with Eustace's ineptitude about worn through.

"That's a ten-seventeen you idjit!" Yuri snapped back.

"What?" The rabbit replied.

"Ten-seventeen! Meet complainant!" The wolf spat. "Not a domestic disturbance ya half-wit! Get it together Eustace!"

"I'm sorry!" The dispatcher whimpered. "T-they're right next to each other on the sheet an-!"

"If you don't shape up yer gonna get an officer kilt givin' out the wrong code like that!"

Yuri could hear what sounded like sniffling starting to crop up on the other end of the line. The dispatcher sounding as though he were about to start bawling. Of course, hearing the rabbits burgeoning tears did little to invoke sympathy in the wolf. In fact, it drew just the opposite instinct out of the wolf. The rabbit had painted a target on himself with his incompetence, and Yuri was more than ready to tear into him. But before the wolf could open his mouth, a hoof snatched the microphone out of his paws.

"Calm down Eustace, calm down!" Lance replied, before flashing the wolf a scowl. The buck placed a hoof over the receiver before speaking to the wolf.

"You aren't going to help him adapt to the job by berating him like that you know?" Lance quietly scolded.

"So I should coddle him instead, like everyone else musta done?" The wolf hissed back. "It's unprofessional! Yer supposed to have all that shit memorized by the time y'all leave the academy, and he can't even keep his codes in order!"

"Unprofessional..." The stag scoffed, shaking his head. "You realize that's rich coming from you."

The wolf scoffed. "At least when I break the rules, I know which ones I'm breakin' backwards and forwards."

Lance rolled his eyes before pressing the mic button down with his thumb.

"Eustace, please try to get a hold of yourself." The buck replied. "Officer Hunter and I are two minutes out, so we'll take the call." The stag shook his head. "But do you have anything else? Any more detail would be appreciated."

The radio was silent for a moment, a few muffled stray sniffles barely rising over the general noise and feedback before the hare seemed to be able to compose himself to some degree.

"W-What kind of detail?" The rabbit finally replied with a shuddering voice. "I-I mean she was pretty vague...and...uh...hard to understand."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Yuri uttered, quirking a brow at his partner curiously. "I thought the little halfwit said she just wanted to speak to an officer? What was she in a panic er' somethin'?"

Lance gave the wolf a slight shrug before turning on the mic once more.

"I'm sorry Eustace..." The stag replied. "You say she was hard to understand? Was she hysterical?"

"Uh...no." The hare replied uneasily. "I wouldn't say she sounded like she was freaking out or anything...it's..er..."

Yuri snatched the receiver out of Lance's hoof, the wolf flashing his fangs as he brought the microphone to his muzzle.

"Just spit it out already!" Yuri barked into the receiver, his muzzle furrowing as he snarled. "Clear, concise answers! That's yer damn job so-!"

Lance wrestled the receiver from Yuri's paw, flashing the wolf another dirty look before pressing down the call button.

"Ignore him Eustace." Lance said. "Just tell us what you can."

Yuri crossed his arms defiantly, turning his muzzle up and away from the stag seated beside him.

"SHE HAD A THICK ACCENT OKAY!" The hare blurted loudly enough to cause the stag to wince. "I've never heard an accent like that before, so it was really hard to pick out just what she was saying! I'm doing my BEST!" Eustace whimpered.

Once again, Lance shot his partner an irritated glare, earning little more than a derisive snort from the wolf.

"We know Eustace, we all know." Lance replied reassuringly. "It's fine, just tell me what you think she said."

There was silence on the other end of the radio for a moment, the dull hum of noise on the frequency occasionally being interrupted with the sound of pages being ruffled through.

"Okay...she said, and I'm going to read it as best as I could transcribe here..." The hare cleared his throat in an almost dramatic fashion.

_"I needs ta speak to some kinda expoirt or detective or sumtin'."_ The rabbit began, the accent he was putting on seeming as though it were some kind of exaggerated joke.

"And then." The hare slipped back into his normal tone with ease. "I asked her what it was in regards to." Eustace continued. "But she refused to go into detail, telling me something to the effect of..."

_"I ain't tellin' use any more den dat! I've had youse guyz write me off more den enough times witout even comin' down to check out da scene!"_ The hare's voice was practically cracking as he struggled to maintain the bizarre, nearly indiscernible accent. _"I figure da only way use guyz will take me seriously is if I show my woik in person!"_

Lance and Yuri exchanged a confused glance, with Lance's features expressing a bit of bemusement amidst his rather baffled look.

"Sounds like a prank call to me." Yuri grumbled.

"Either that, or a cartoon character called into the station..." Lance replied with a chuckle.

"That's all I was able to get out of her unfortunately." Eustace continued. "Although I did do my due diligence and followed up with the hospital to confirm the validity of the call." The hare's tone seemed to grow steadier as he continued to rattle off information, the apparent lack of confidence fading as he apparently found his stride. "And at the very least I was able to confirm with someone else on staff that one of their nurses did call, and assured me that she _'knew what she was talking about.'_ Whatever that was." The hare seemed to manage a chuckle.

Lance flashed Yuri a smug smile as if to make a point that the hare's improved demeanor had come solely from the stag handling him like a foal. At least that's what Yuri gleaned from it. But regardless of the bucks intention, the wolf responded with a sneer of disgust.

"Copy that Eustace." The stag responded. "We'll call in when we arrive at the location, over."

"Copy that Officer Eckhart." The hare responded.

With that, the buck holstered the receiver back onto the radio hook, all the while maintaining his smug smile as he placed both hooves back on the steering wheel. Out of the corner of his eye, Yuri could see the buck's own gaze occasionally fix on his, his smile growing each time as he was clearly attempting to goad the wolf into commenting. But Yuri wasn't about to play that game, and the wolf turned in his seat enough to avert the bucks gaze as he turned his attention back to his rain covered window.

"I told you." Lance finally uttered. Clearly unable to contain the need to prove himself to be right once again in the face of one of Yuri's assessments.

"Ah shut yer muzzle ya runt of a stag." Yuri hissed quietly.

"I'm just saying Yuri, you catch more flies with honey." The stag continued.

The wolf straightened his posture, flashing the buck a dull glare as he crossed his arms indignantly.

"I'll make sure to remind you y'all said that when y'all get shot on the job and call in fer back up, only fer Eustace to get ya kilt by givin' out the wrong call code." The wolf retorted.

Lance scoffed. "Oh please, it-."

"Although I will admit that all ears no brained idjit makes a better actor than a dispatch officer." The wolf chuckled. "Maybe he shoulda gone to school fer that instead of police work."

Lance shook his head dismissively at the wolf. "Yuri, Eustace is a perfectly capable dispatcher."

"He's a dang diversity hire is what he is." Yuri replied.

Lance rolled his eyes, letting out a heavy, tired sigh. "Not this again..."

"What?" The wolf asked, flashing the stag a look of mild surprise. "You tell me with a straight face that rabbit wasn't hired just to make the top brass look good?" Yuri said with a snort. "One uppity bunny in Zootopia makes headlines, and suddenly every city is bendin' over backwards to hire whatever mammal can get them government types the most positive press!" Yuri crossed his arms, turning his muzzle up at the stag. "It's our lives on the line! Not his! So just keep that in mind the next time we got our backs to the wall and he flubs his job!"

Lance shook his head dismissively, flicking on the car's blinker with a hoof as he pulled onto the upcoming off-ramp.

"Can we switch to focusing on the task at hoof?" The stag muttered. "The call?"

"Fine." The wolf huffed, leaning his arm on the passenger side door. Yuri let out a long sigh, the wolf rolling his shoulders for a moment in an effort to shake out the tension the rabbit's incompetence had created in his muscles. It was a shame all the work Lance had done to help dispell the wolf's growing ire and irritation had apparently been for naught thanks to the rabbit. But it was rare the wolf was ever able to truly shake of his anger and annoyance unless he could direct it squarely at someone else. Nothing helped the wolf vent better than simply unloading on the mammal whose idiocy had pissed him off in the first place, but trying to shake it off was better than nothing.

"So what is yer hot take on the call there genius?" Yuri asked. "Any insight on what it might be about?"

"I have no idea." Lance replied. "I could barely understand the accent he was trying to imitate."

"Barx." Yuri replied, tapping a claw to his temple. "That's the closest accent I can figure, albeit it real thick all things considered."

"The Barx?" Lance asked, quirking a brow at the wolf curiously. "As in Zoo York?"

Yuri gave the stag an affirmative nod.

Lance quirked a brow. "First off, how do you know that?" The buck asked."And second, what the hell is someone from the Barx doing working a hospital in Redmound?" The stag continued.

Yuri ran a paw through his mohawk like mane of fur, letting out a soft sigh.

"Okay, first question. I've heard a few mammals talk like that on tee-vee that were shootin' in the Barks. It's a real distinct accent." The wolf replied. "As fer yer second question..." Yuri trailed off for a moment before offering his partner a shrug. "I don't know, what the hell am I doin' workin' here?" The wolf replied with a chuckle. "Sometimes y'all just need to get as far from yer old home as possible." Yuri shrugged. "Maybe that's what this nurse did."

A look crossed Lance's muzzle the wolf didn't like, a flicker of that same inquisitive spark Yuri had seen when the buck had been trying to pry into his family problems just moments before. But it faded quickly, the stag shifting his attention to the upcoming stoplight as he let out a sigh.

"I wonder what she wants?" Lance uttered.

"Whatever it is, she sounds purty adamant about how important it is." The wolf replied. "And apparently we've ignored calls from her before..."

"If that's to be believed," Lance replied, the buck furrowing his brow slightly as he rolled up to the stop. "You never know with these type of calls."

"Long ears confirmed it with someone else on staff." Yuri muttered. "I know Redmound general ain't exactly most mammals first choice when it comes to hospitals, but I doubt they've got such a crap staff that they're willin' to lie to a police officer." The wolf continued. "And fer what reason?"

"If that's how she sounds..." Lance murmured. " I mean, you said it yourself. It does sound a bit like a prank call."

"Then I'll tear into 'em." The wolf said with a chuckle. To be honest, Yuri was probably just as uncertain as Lance seemed to be about the validity of the call, even if some other nebulous staff member confirmed it had indeed come from the hospital and considered legitimate. But the wolf was more than happy at the prospect of the call turning out to be little more than a waste of his and his partners time if it meant he got to unload on some dumb nurse who mistakenly called them in for the wrong reason. With Lance denying the wolf his opportunity to shout down Eustace, it would make a great avenue for Yuri to get his anger out.

"Sides', judgin' a mammal by their accent?" The wolf shook his head, dismissively clicking his tongue as he did. "And here I thought you was better than that."

Lance scowled at the wolf, the buck letting out a huff.

"Oh don't give me that." The stag replied, pointing a finger at the wolf accusingly. "You're the one of us who's always using terms like _'grazer'_ and _'wet rats' _to describe mammals, not me!"

Yuri held up a single finger as he narrowed his gaze on the stag by his side.

"One, you used the word _'hounds' _not more than five minutes ago, which is a canid slur." The wolf rebuffed. "Or did y'all ferget?"

Lance let out a scoff in response, turning onto the next street as the stoplight shifted from red to green.

"And two..." The wolf continued, holding up a second finger. "I may judge a mammal by their pelt, but yer always judgin' 'em by the way they talk!"

"I do not!" Lance denied, drawing a laugh from the wolf.

"Please, the first day we got paired up y'all kept _'dumbin' _down words fer me cause you thought I was just some country bumpkin who rolled off the turnip truck!" Yuri replied with a chuckle. "Fer the gods sake, y'all asked me if I knew what _'urban' _meant!"

"Well, I wasn't rude, unlike you!" The buck retorted.

"Nah, you were condescendin'." Yuri rebutted. "Which is worse." Yuri rolled his eyes, shaking his head dismissively. "Talkin' down to me like I was a damn pup, and you wonder why I was givin' y'all so much shit?"

"Well...I-."

"And y'all still are just as much of a condescendin' prick as the day we met!" The wolf added with a smug smirk.

"And you are just as much of an asshole as the day we met." Lance replied. "So I'd say we're even, wouldn't you agree?"

Yuri chuckled, flashing the buck a fanged toothed smile as he eased back into his seat, the wolf placing his paws behind his head as he nestled into them comfortably.

"See...that's what I like about y'all Lance." The wolf said with a satisfied smirk. "Y'all know how to keep up with me."

The buck let out an exasperated sigh, but Yuri could see the smirk that had crept its way across the bucks muzzle as he turned his attention to the road ahead once again. To Yuri, it was a sign that the wolf's words had hit a mark of truth. That despite all the vitriol and arguments that were admittedly mostly the wolf's own fault, the stag and he had an understanding. The wolf's words were never enough to chase him off, to make Lance up and request a transfer or a new partner no matter how off-color and rude the wolf was. Yuri could be himself around Lance without being demonized for it. And much like the Slasher's, the wolf was respected for his talents just as he begrudgingly respected lance for his own. It was a welcome reminder that his life in Seaotter was his own to make of it what he wanted. And as long as he never returned to his family home, his status as the family _'trouble-maker'_ would forever be locked away exclusively at the hunter ranch. That as bad as enduring his mothers calls from home had become, it was all he had to endure. The second he hung up, he was back to his own life. His _'real' _life. And if the wolf could manage, he would do everything in his power to make sure he never had to go back.

Yuri clasped his paws together, intertwining his fingers as he watched the dull halogen lighting of the _'Redmond General Hospital'_ come into view, the wolf doing his best to shake off any lingering thoughts of home as he prepared to do his job. Once again, the time had come for the wolf to show just what he was really made of, and he wasn't going to let anything drag him down. Not the weather, not his mother, not Vermin. This city, this life, it was all his. And he was going to make the most of it, every damn day he could.

I'd like to send a special shout out to my backer Hyenafur for use of his characters Kody 'Robin' Rowan and his father in the little hockey blurb. I'd link his page on FA, but these sites seem to hate URLs in stories.


	2. Queen of the Dead Pt2

So much for making 'Tales From The BellHunterverse' My repository for 'Short Stories'. You guys probably thought I gave up the writing game for good. But in all honestly, a combination of snags with the second half and timing screwed things up for quite a while. Of course, I can make excuse after excuse, but a majority of it was getting caught up in making this story as perfect as possible. Why? Because a chunk of this chapter establishes how some Night Howler mechanics are going to work in the future. I also didn't want my characters to act like idiots for plot convenience, hence why this fic was almost finished in December, but then feedback from s had me push it back until I could revise it.

Still, for those of you who had been waiting patiently, I hope this 50 page conclusion to the "When Ada Met Yuri" story was worth the wait. :0

-WT

**Tales from the BellHunterverse**

Presents

**Queen of the Dead Pt2**

By Wastedtimeee

Yuri had never been a fan of hospitals. As a pup, he had been downright afraid of what he had once heard his grandfather call a_ 'den of discomfort and death'_, although he would have never admitted it. After all, when it came to his brothers, Yuri knew they considered him to be a lot of things. Most of those things were negative of course, but if there was one image he had wanted to persist among the rest of siblings growing up, regardless of the other baggage it sometimes had carried with it, was that he was fearless and strong. And admitting that hospitals actually scared him was an admission of weakness.

That said, for all his fears, his hospital visits had always fortunately been few and far between, mostly in part due to his mother's expert first aid skills. But even the self-described super-mom had a limit to her vast array of motherly powers, and broken bones just happened to be one of those limitations. And while Yuri tended to try and avoid starting fights he didn't have the upper paw in from the start, the pup loved his rough and tumble play. And thus, when Yuri would take a particularly bad spill on his dirt-bike, or get into a tussle during one of his pee-wee hockey or gridiron games, the wolf would find himself on an express trip to the North Meadowlands General Hospital.

Of course, a pup like Yuri should have reveled in the carnage that an emergency room would house. At least, that's what any mammal who had known him as a kid would have assumed. This was the pup who not only snuck out to the living room while everyone else was sleeping to watch R-rated horror flicks that he was far too young for, but actually laughed at the cheesy gore and violence rather than recoiled. Yet despite his usually unflappable demeanor, there was something about the whole scene of hospitals that just rubbed his fur against the grain. As a pup, it was something he couldn't quite quantify. An unnerving sense of unease and discomfort that the pup's limited vocabulary could only best describe as _'creepy'_. But looking back on those memories as an adult made it much more easy to pin-down every facet of just what had fed into his adolescent fears.

Even when it was a relatively quiet day at Meadowlands General, there was still this constant air of nervousness and unease that the hospital's interior seemed to exude. It was as if everyone in the place were in a constant state of nervous anticipation. Waiting for some unknown something to happen with a palpable sense of dread that filled the air inside the building. It was a sense that went paw in paw with the thick stench of antiseptic that permeated the air. A scent so potent it made the wolf's nostrils burn, yet still not quite powerful enough to mask the lingering background scent of sickness and decay that sent shivers down the young wolf's spine. All this was only amplified by the stark, sterile fluorescent lighting that bathed every square inch of the interior with its baleful glow, sapping the warmth and life from everything it touched.

All of it made the wolf unable to sit still when dragged into the ER, the growing discomfort fueling his desire to flee despite how much whatever busted limb or egregious head wound was ailing him. The wolf could count more than one occasion where he had ruined a cast being set because he had gotten up to leave before it had dried, which of course only added to his wait time, as well as made his mother elect to restrain the pup until she got the all-clear from the doctor.

However, it was his grandfather's death that amplified that unease about hospitals into a full-blown fear that persisted until his early adulthood. The mammal whose off color-remark between coughing fits had come to define how the wolf would forever see such places.

Yuri had always looked up to his Grandfather, Aldus Hunter. He was a powerful, imposing mammal, that made even his father Dorian look like a runt in comparison. But despite his outward appearance, he had always been a friendly, lovable old wolf that even a rather mischievous young Yuri couldn't help drop his defenses around. He was the one who took them fishing, and camping, and told them jokes that would probably get the pups hides tanned should they have ever repeated them around their parents. He was also the wolf that Yuri would come to learn most of his _'native wolf' _terminology from. From titles like Alpha to Omega, and everything in between. Although Aldus had always heavily advised them not to take stock in the old native belief system. It was simply informative, according to him. To teach the lot of them about the cultural follies of the less glamorous portion of the family's heritage so that they would learn from the mistakes of their ancestors.

Unlike his mother and father, Yuri always felt that the old Mam' actually listened to them. To him. Aldus understood Yuri in a way that his mother and father seemed unable to. And while on the one paw, that meant his grandfather was extremely good at predicting his mischievous pranks and schemes before he could even get them off the ground, on the other paw, while he would still get chided for his behavior, the wolf never expressed the same disgust or shame that the young wolf received at home. Aldus treated the wolf in a strangely soft and understanding manner, and when it came to actual punishments, Aldus often elected to put young Yuri to work. Building things, repairing, maintenance around the older wolf's cabin. Aldus was a firm believer in putting Yuri's_ 'pent up energy'_ to good use, and what's more, unlike Yuri's parents, Aldus was usually working alongside him during his _'punishments'_, using the time to teach him how to do the job properly, as well as simply talk to the wolf one on one. It was something that at first annoyed Yuri to no end. After all, how could the wolf slack off with the old grey-muzzle floating over his shoulder almost constantly? But as he grew older, it was these moments with his grandfather he'd come to treasure the most. Aldus took an interest in him, gave him the time of day despite his attitude, and in time Yuri grew to adore the grey-muzzled old wolf because of it.

But the old mam' had been a smoker for years. There wasn't a time Yuri could remember when the older wolf didn't have his pipe out, or a Pawl-Mall sagging from his muzzle at any given time. His default choice when a store didn't have his preferred Norwulff imported pipe tobacco. It was a nasty habit that only increased after his wife had died and left the old mammal to raise Dorian alone. Perhaps, without Grandma Karen around to scold him over it, the wolf simply couldn't help himself. But it was more than likely that the old wolf had simply increased it as a way to cope with the loss, perhaps maybe even an effort to start sprinting towards life's finish line to reunite with her sooner. But regardless, around the pups teen years, all that smoking finally caught up with the old wolf.

Yuri could still remember the last time he got to see his grandfather. Initially, the pups had been kept from seeing him by the old wolf's old request. He hadn't considered it worth worrying them about and was certain he'd get the upper paw and be out of the place in no time. But as his condition worsened, and it became clear that the wolf was fighting a losing battle, he asked their parents to bring them to see him in order to say goodbye.

The image was still burned into his memory and had it not been for the fact that Yuri had been fifteen at the time, the memory could have easily passed for having happened yesterday. The vision of his poor old grandfather in that cold, fluorescent chamber, the heavy stench of antiseptic and death permeating the room. It was clear Yuri's parents had tried to make the room more comfortable, more familiar by adding trinkets and personal effects throughout the place. But no amount of creature comforts could hope to mask that place for what it was, not for the visitors, and certainly not for Aldus. In retrospect, it all seemed as pointless as fretting over rearranging deck chairs on the Taurtanic. But the way the old wolf looked certainly did the effort no real favors.

The once strong and imposing looking wolf had been reduced to little more than a withered, weakened husk as he lay in his hospital bed. A myriad of tubes and horrific-looking machines jabbed into every available opening in the wolf's body as he coughed raggedly into his breathing mask. To Yuri, it looked as though the mammal had shrunk to half his size. And when he could manage to speak, it was hoarse and quiet, punctuated by stray coughs and visible winces of pain.

Yuri couldn't remember what his father had said to try to warm the atmosphere, perhaps something about the staff, or the quality of the room. But it hadn't mattered. What stuck with Yuri was his response.

_"Son, y'all can try to dress the place like this as fancy as y'all want." The wolf coughed. "But at the end of the day, it's still just damn den of discomfort and death." _

That had been followed by a ragged, coughing laugh before the wolf managed to utter.

_"Just a waiting room fer a coffin'...a fancy one sure, but that's all it is."_

Of course, that wasn't the only words the wolf had said that stuck with him that night. Each brother had gotten some time to talk with the old mam', to say their final goodbyes, and Yuri was no exception, although he was the last to approach him. Yuri had tried to start with awkward small talk, trying to play down everything from Aldus' appearance to just how he was holding up. What the wolf was prattling on about he couldn't recall. It wasn't important, nothing more than nonsense to try to shield himself from the actual truth of the situation. But at some-point, Aldus reached a withered paw out, placing it on Yuri's own and stopping the wolf mid-sentence as he smiled up at him.

The older wolf let out a choking laugh.

_"Boy, ya don't have to be so hard all the time. Ya know that right?" Aldus spoke. "Fer the god's sakes, just bring it in and give me a hug already..." _The wolf coughed.

Yuri was reluctant, almost afraid. For as stupid as it sounded, fear of what his brothers would think as well as a fear of accidentally hurting the older wolf in his weakened state. But after Aldus aggressively waved him on, the wolf uneasily wrapped his arms around the smaller mammal. It was a weak hug, at least at first, but as Aldus' shaky paws wrapped around the dark-furred wolf, the wave of emotion it would spark quickly forced the pair into a powerfully tight hug.

_"I love you mutt."_ The old wolf cooed affectionately as he pat Yuri's back.

_"I...I love y'all too gramps..."_ Yuri mumbled quietly.

The two held like that for what seemed like an eternity, all the while Yuri doing his damnedest to keep the tears fighting their way to the surface from ever breaching. But eventually, a particularly ragged cough forced the old wolf to release his grip.

Drawing back, Yuri was already prepared to make a sprint for the exit when Aldus snatched his paw, keeping the wolf's attention of the older mammal, his old golden yellow eyes shining as he looked to Yuri's own.

_"Yer a good wolf son, better than ya think y'are..."_ Aldus wheezed. _"Stop pretendin' ya' ain't got a big heart under all that armor so much..." _The wolf coughed harshly before regaining his composure._ "You let that heart o' yers shine a bit more often and...you'll get to where ya want to be in life..."_

Aldus smiled broadly through his breather mask.

_ "And happiness 'ill find ya." _The wolf chuckled weakly. _"I guarantee it."_

That was all Yuri could handle before he had to storm out of the room, out of that place and onto his bike. It was a blessing that he had thought to stash it on the back of his mother's truck before they had left for the hospital. It gave him the private means of escape he needed as he drove off into the dark of the night. Just riding aimlessly away from any and all life as he finally allowed himself to cry free from the prying eyes of his family. At some point, he simply pulled over on the side of the road, stumbled off his bike and collapsed in a nearby meadow before breaking into a full-on howling wail, one that managed to carry clear over the North Meadowland Mountains, and sent the local wolves into anguished calls of their own. It was in this meadow he would spend his night mourning the mammal he had known as Aldus Hunter, and by the time he had finally composed himself enough to return home in the wee hours of the morning, Aldus had passed, and Yuri's fear of hospitals would be fully entrenched. A fear he would remain unable to shake until his work as an Officer of the SOPD had forced him to build up a tolerance.

But his tolerance was already being tested as he and his partner crept along the sickly pale grey corridors of Redmound General. Same fluorescent lighting that bothered his eyes, same stench of antiseptic that burned his nostrils, it had forced the wolf's mind down memory lane against his will. And the longer they lingered, the more he would be forced to think about that night, about Aldus.

Of course, it didn't help that Redmound General was also somewhat of a far cry away from the North Meadowlands Hospital in terms of comfort and quality. While the Meadowlands Hospital may have been 'rinky-dink' in comparison, it, like all other hospitals under Zootopia's belt, was well funded. Redmound General, was less so. It was a B grade hospital when compared to Seaotter General, and Woolshington State was all hooves when it came to properly funding state services in general. They were more worried about cutting costs over quality service and seemed to live by the principle of funneling majority funding into whichever place they decided to prop up as the 'media face' while the others all struggled with scraps. With an absurdly low budget and an even lower staff retention rate, the place was known to be operating with a skeleton crew for months at a time. And all of that showed in spades as they descended deeper into the hospital.

"This the right way?" Yuri muttered, trying to chase away the lingering memories of previous hospital horrors as he glanced over to his partner.

The little stag seemed to jump, his head jerking in Yuri's direction in a sharp, swift motion as he let out a soft gasp. Yuri quirked a brow curiously as the buck quickly tried to compose himself, adjusting his glasses slightly before turning his attention back to the hall ahead of them.

"T-the nurse told us it was this way." The buck stammered slightly. "I-I mean..."

Yuri's ears flattened against his head as the sound of weak, pitiful groaning trickled into his ears. Glancing in the direction of the sound, the wolf now found they were passing several gurneys simply set out in the hallway, all of them occupied by patients quietly suffering. The wolf tugged at his collar slightly as he turned his gaze up to the fluorescent lights in an effort to distract himself from the uncomfortable scene.

"Would help if there were some signs er' somethin'." Yuri muttered.

"It would help if there were a lot of things in this crap shack." Lance replied bluntly.

A surprisingly loud moan came from one of the patients they were passing by, earning another jump from Lance as he stumbled slightly farther away from the direction of the sound.

Yuri managed a smirk.

"Y'all can't tell me this place has got ya all on edge now can ya?" Yuri chuckled.

Lance furrowed his brow, the stag crossing his arms as he returned to walking along the wolf's side.

"What if it does?" Lance rebuffed, gesturing a hoof to the gurney the moan had come from. A particularly green in the muzzle looking otter popped his head up briefly before slumping back into the pillow.

"I think I'm gonna hurl..." The mammal moaned weakly, barely audible before letting out a low groan into his pillow.

"Patients in the halls." The buck shook his head disapprovingly before turning his attention to what looked like a janitor's mop and bucket left in the middle of the hall. Taking a wide step around it, the buck kicked the bucket weakly with a foot causing the dark, sludgy looking water within to slosh softly against the sides of the container.

"Cleaning supplies left out and about." The stag muttered. "And probably not being utilized as much as they should be."

The stag turned his head, meeting Yuri's gaze.

"And have you see a single physician since we left reception?" The buck scoffed. "Because I haven't."

Yuri shrugged. "So?"

Lance let out a soft scoff, shaking his head slightly.

"It just feels...wrong...?" The stag replied, lamely gesturing his hoof in a small circle. "Off...?" Lance tapped his chin with a hoof idly as he seemed to be searching for his words. "Unnatural? It feels unnatural."

Yuri chuckled. "Lance, I don't think there ain't a thing about a hospital y'all could call natural." The wolf shook his head.

The wolf was about to crack a joke about how the stag being considered fit to be an officer was pretty _'unnatural'_ as well, but a sudden rather ragged series of coughs made the wolf freeze in place. His ears stood tall and pointed as every muscle in his body seem to tighten at the painfully familiar sound. Slowly, warily, his yellow irises traced off in the direction of the sound, his eyes widening slightly as they came to rest on an old, withered looking grey wolf ambling out of a room to his right.

The sickly looking old wolf shuffled lamely from the door frame, his paw clasped so tightly to the metal arm of a rolling IV drip that one could easily make out his knucklebones as he pushed it alongside himself. What little fur remained on his bony form clung in loose patches to his sagging, pale hide. As the aged wolf passed by Yuri's side, his bleary, milky tinged eyes seemed to stare through him for a moment. The orbs were cloudy, so much so that it told Yuri that the older wolf was either partially or fully blind, which made the wolf feel all the more uneasy as the old mammal seemed to gaze in his direction.

Aside from the difference in fur color, as well as what little eye color Yuri could make out behind the milky film that had overtaken his corneas, the old wolf was practically the spitting image of his grandfather in his final days. It was almost as if the wolf were looking at a ghost. A hauntingly, near-perfect echo of the wolf he had known right down to the multitude of tubes and wires that jutted from various parts of his meager frame. Yuri couldn't help but remain stock still as the older wolf squinted at him, a lump forming in his throat as his hackles stood on end. The aged wolf sniffed at him for a moment before muttering something about _'Norwulves' _to himself and simply turning away again, continuing to shuffle down the hall and away from Yuri.

Yuri let out a quiet, shaky sigh as he felt his muscles began to relax once more, and the wolf went on to force a shudder to shake off the lingering chill the older mammal had set within him. The feeling still lingered to some degree, but it had been enough to allow the wolf to regain some semblance of his composure.

"I mean it just doesn't feel like a hospital should feel." Lance continued, the buck now a few steps further along in the hall as Yuri finally came out of his daze. The stag hadn't noticed Yuri's encounter with the older wolf, having been stuck on the wolf's previous statement as he continued to make his way deeper into the hospital.

Yuri made a quick, yet silent lope to close the distance between himself and his partner, taking as much care as possible not to alert him that he had fallen behind at any point as he allowed his partner to prattle on. The last thing Yuri wanted is to open up another avenue of questioning Lance could press him on, let alone tip the buck off that he was just as uneasy as he was. Aside from the loss of potential means to tease the stag, at least one officer needed to keep a cool head for the other to rely on, even if it was only the appearance of one. After all, a pair of skittish officers on any sort of investigation with no mammal to ease them off the trigger would be a recipe for disaster.

"It feels more like...how do I put this..?" The buck finally turned to regard Yuri, gesturing a hoof towards the wolf. "It feels more like we've stepped into some sort of sparsely occupied drug den, and I should have my gun drawn..."

"Not the worst instinct to have." Yuri muttered. "It is a drug den after all, just a legal one." The wolf chuckled.

That comment had at least drawn a half-smirk from the cagey stag, but it was a fleeting expression, all to quickly consumed once again by a look of clear discomfort.

"Always good to be on yer guard." The wolf added in a slightly encouraging tone. "Although I think the patients might not take to kindly if they see y'all waivin' a tranq pistol around like a mad mammal."

"And we have to visit a _'morgue' _of all places. Ugh..." The buck continued, placing his hooves on his upper arms and rubbing them uneasily as he gave off a full-body shudder.

Yuri quirked a brow at the stag, letting out a bemused chuckle.

"Ya say that like seein' dead mammals got y'all spooked." The wolf laughed.

"Well..." Lance muttered, tapping his hooves together nervously. Yuri glanced at his partner in disbelief, placing a paw on his hip to steady himself as he leaned slightly over the stag.

"Lance, yer a cop!" The wolf said, his tone a mixture of amusement and mild surprise. "You see-!" The wolf shook his head dismissively before correcting himself. "We see dead mammals every damn day!"

The wolf raised his paws, offering the stag an indifferent shrug. "Hell, sometimes just cut up bits o' dead mammal!" The wolf laughed awkwardly. "And I ain't never seen y'all react this badly since we started workin' together!"

Yuri rolled his eyes, a toothy smirk overtaking his muzzle. "And now yer gonna tell me seein' some neat and tidy dead body on a slab is gonna get yer hackles up!?" The wolf added.

"I-IT'S DIFFERENT OKAY!" The buck snapped, turning on his heel to face the wolf in order to shout his rebuttal. It was a clear emotional response, one that Lance quickly seemed to regret as he quickly turned away from Yuri, the stag rubbing his upper arm as though he were a little fawn caught in an embarrassing situation.

"I-I mean..." Lance muttered, placing a hoof to the back of his neck as an uneasy expression formed across his muzzle. "L-Look, c-crime scenes I'm prepared for okay?"

Yuri crossed his arms, flashing the mammal a dubious expression that conveyed a need for a more nuanced explanation from his partner.

"It's just with morgues...okay..." The buck let out a sigh, bracing his upper arms with his hooves once more as though he had suddenly felt a chill. "Look, I mean in the morgue bodies are refrigerated a-and laid out on a platter...and-and..." The stag winced, shrinking into his shoulders slightly.

"And what?" Yuri asked, the wolf leaning in slightly now that his curiosity was piqued.

"It just...feels like they are being served." The stag admitted sheepishly. "Especially when it's prey on the slab..." Lance tapped his hooves together nervously. "Like they are being set up to be some mammals entree or something." The stag scoffed, gesturing a hoof idly at nothing in particular. "Like, just lay down some parsley around them and add gravy..." The buck shuddered.

Yuri blinked dumbly for a few moments, the wolf temporarily at a loss for words. The wolf furrowed his brow, his muzzle quirking into a toothy smirk as he drew back from his colleague.

Yuri braced his neck with a paw, the wolf glancing up toward the ceiling as he pursed his lips into a whistle.

"Sweet Sawgrass..." The wolf murmured. "Y'all gotta lay off the horror movies mam'." Yuri chuckled. "They are gonna rot yer brain."

"IT'S A PREY THING!" The buck protested. But Yuri simply rolled his eyes.

"And you know I don't watch horror movies!" The stag hissed. " I get my daily dose of unnecessary horror being forced to work with you thank you ver-."

"Hey." Yuri cut the buck off, holding up a paw to silence the mammal before pointing toward the pair of double doors coming up on their right. "Ya can hold the bitin' commentary fer after we're done here, cause I think we've found the place."

Both mammals approached the doors with an equal reluctance in their step before eventually coming to a stop just before the entryway. Yuri gave the doors a slow scan from top to bottom, his yellow irises carefully tracing the frame from floor to ceiling as he appraised the situation. Standard steel grey, windowless doors stood before them, clean and sterile looking much like the rest of the hospital. Above them hung a rather aged looking sign, the paint peeling around the edges and lettering, but not enough to obscure the grim text that read 'morgue' in a dull block print.

A stray, muffled cackle caused the wolf to stiffen in his stance. It was a startling sound to hear in a hospital of all places, but the fact that it had apparently come out of the morgue had the wolf's hackles on the rise once more.

"D-Did you hear that?" Yuri glanced over to find his partner nibbling on his hoof nail. The rather shrimpy buck seemingly shrinking into himself further as his wide eyes fixated on the doors.

Yuri gave a weak nod.

"Sounded like a laugh..."

"An un-mammalian cackle from the pits of Hades more like..." Lance corrected. "W-What kind of mammal could possibly laugh in a morgue?"

Yuri offered his partner a weak, reluctant shrug. "Maybe it's a TV 'er somethin'."

Slowly, warily, the wolf pressed a paw against the cool steel door.

"But I guess..." The wolf grimaced slightly. "There's only one way to find out."

Letting out a sigh, the wolf pressed forward into the door, easing it wide open to reveal a rather startling sight. The room was fairly dark, save for a brightly illuminated curtain partition that laid straight ahead of the pair. Behind it, the wolf could see two sets of well-defined shadows. One, seemingly that of a large body laying upon a slab, while the other a dark, hulking form that seemed to loom over the body with a menacing air.

Yuri watched in mute horror as the muzzle of the looming shadow split, letting out another eerie cackle before the creature looked to be plunging its paws into the chest of the corpse in front of it. For a moment the creature seemed to struggle before yanking a large, stringy piece of what was presumably part of the body before sinking its teeth into the exhumed flesh. Yuri could see it's jaw moving, and worse yet, he could hear the accompanying chewing that made him less and less certain he was looking at anything other than an act of 'predation' taking place.

Yuri placed a paw to his muzzle, his words failing him as the wolf's mind struggled to come up with a course of action to take. Never in all his years on the force had he ever come across such a sight. Hell, the last documented case of 'predation' in Seaotter had been over half a century ago, and that's what made the sight all the more impossible to believe. There had to be another explanation, it had to be something else. The wolf's mind refused to accept the alternative.

"SW-SWEET CERVIDWEN!" The hushed, yet terrified exclamation snapped the wolf out of his silent stupor, his attention shifting momentarily to the stag at his side. Despite the lighting, Yuri could see just how pale the stag he called his partner had grown. There was a look of existential horror etched into the stags features, his baby blue eyes as wide as saucers as Yuri could only assume the stag was struggling to process what appeared to be the very manifestation of his fear playing out before them.

Lance's cheeks suddenly bulged out slightly, a disconcerting gurgle emanating from his muzzle as he slapped a hoof over his lips. Yuri could already smell the bile, granted it was just the vaguest hint of it, but still, it was enough to tell the wolf that his partner had actually triggered an involuntary ruminant response, or as Yuri liked to refer to it, _'Reherbgitation'_.

Yuri gave the stag a firm stare. "Keep it together Lance." The wolf whispered sharply.

Lance offered Yuri a weak nod before the wolf watched the stag strain to force the cud back down his throat, the muscles in his face and neck clenching tightly as he struggled to fight it back down. The sound of the stag swallowing caused Yuri to wince. It was an audibly painful sound, followed up with the stag letting out a quiet, weary groan.

Lance's head swayed dizzily for a moment before the stag gave it a rather brisk shake. Despite not looking that much better, at the very least lance looked alert. His strained, blue eyes met Yuri's once more, the stag offering a reluctant nod to the wolf to affirm that he was well enough to push forward. Yuri watched as the stag's attention turned to the scene ahead of them, his hoof traveling down to the hilt of his tranquilizer pistol.

Nodding in return, the wolf turned his attention back to the grisly shadow theater, the wolf's own movements following behind his partner's as he rested his paw on the hilt of his pistol, caressing the handle with his fingers as he watched the shape with wary eyes.

"SOPD!" Yuri barked, trying to keep his tone from wavering as he watched the ghoulish shape behind the curtain. "S-Someone call fer an officer?"

"FOINALLY!" The response was both quick and loud, so much so that it startled the wolf that much further. Yuri watched as the shape reached an arm out, its paw grasping the edge of the curtain before drawing it back in one swift motion revealing the cloaked scene.

Pressing the curtain against the wall with one paw was a large, female spotted hyena in a pair of pale blue nursing scrubs. Her long, swooping black and white-colored mane of hair swishing through the air softly as she attempted to flick the unruly Mohawk out of her eyes with a bob of her head.

The hyena flashed Yuri a wide, toothy smile.

"Bout time you flatfoots showed up." The hyena chuckled, before taking a bite of the limp piece of pizza sagging in her other paw. "I waff bogign to fink I goft gofsted agan..." The hyeness mumbled out over the sound of her chewing.

Yuri let out a sigh of relief as the full scene came into view. The hyena had been sitting at a rather cluttered looking desk, which had been back-lit by a simple desk lamp. Amidst the books, crumpled papers, and various medical instruments the wolf spotted an open box of pizza along with a two-liter Koala cola. In front of that desk laid a large cadaver covered by a sheet. And while the prospect of eating so close to a body was still somewhat unnerving to the wolf, he was eternally grateful he didn't have to worry about taking down some crazed mammal who liked to dine on corpses.

Yuri relaxed his stance, taking his paw off his pistol holster as he stepped into the room.

"I'm sorry?" The wolf asked, his ears skewing curiously as he regarded the hyena leaning out of her seat.

The large hyeness rose to her feet, plopping her slice of pizza back into the box carelessly before she began to stroll toward the wolf.

"I said, I figured youse guys was gonna just blow mes off or somtin'..." The hyena replied with a laugh, wiping her paw off against the breast of her scrubs casually. "I tawt I was gonna hafta ta break sumtin' myself to get youse guys to finally shows up!"

As the hyena came to stand across from the wolf, it became apparent to Yuri that she had at least a solid foot on him. It wasn't exactly surprising, the wolf had heard that hyena females tended to be considerably larger than the males. But it still put the wolf off to some degree. He didn't exactly like feeling shorter than a female that he considered to generally be in his species range. If it wasn't a megafauna mammal, it wasn't acceptable to the wolf to be shorter than them.

"Hey, is youse gonna be alright?" The hyena asked, turning to regard the stag standing to Yuri's side. Lance had managed to remain standing despite his reaction, and the stag was clearly doing his best to put on a more authoritative expression, however, he still looked as pallid and sweaty as when they had first walked in on the seemingly nightmarish sight. The fact that he seemed to be swaying slightly on his hooves didn't help.

"Yas lookin' a little pale." Ada added.

Lance ran a hoof over his brow in a halfhearted attempt to swab away the copious amount of cold sweat.

"I-I'll be fi-Urp." The stag placed a hoof over his muzzle once more, stifling his belch just a little too late, his brow furrowing as he did.

"You'll have to fergive my partner..." Yuri replied, placing his paws on his belt as he turned back to the hyeness. "Apparently he ain't never been around dead bodies before."

The hyeness let out a loud, amused cackle before snapping her paw up to her muzzle in a clear effort to stifle it. Yuri could see a tinge of crimson forming on her muzzle before the hyena averted her gaze in apparent embarrassment.

Lance managed a weak scoff. "Oh that's real f-funny. I'll have you kn-Urrrp..." The stag shuddered as he clasped his muzzle with a hoof once more. The burp was followed by a rather weak, sickly groan.

"Sorry to tell yas I don't have any nausea medicine on paw." The hyena replied with a shrug.

"Oh wait!" The hyena added, holding up a claw before quickly dashing over to a fairly massive nearby morgue drawer. Clasping the large handle with both paws, the hyena pulled the drawer open with seemingly little effort. As the rack rolled into view, Yuri could see three or four more bottles of soda laying in the slab instead of a body. "Some a dis Koala Cola is flat, and da syrup make for a good nausea aide!"

Lance furrowed his brow, letting out an irritated grumble as he glanced up at the open slab, and then back to the odd nurse.

"How disgusting..." The buck muttered weakly, finally managing to straighten his posture. Lance took a moment to adjust his glasses, giving one last visible body shudder before he seemed to get a better grip on himself. "Not to mention unsanitary! Keeping food in a cadaver drawer? Graze me!"

The hyena offered a rather careless shrug in response.

"Eh, we ain't neva get megafauna bodies in dis place, but da state requires us to have at least one drawer for 'em." The hyena smirked. "At least dis way we get's some use outta it."

Lance scoffed sharply, the buck shaking his head in disapproval as he crossed his arms.

"Looks like yet another point to add on the long list of grievances I've been keeping mental record of since we entered this place." Lance muttered, turning his attention to Yuri. "Unsanitary conditions. Unprofessional _staff_." The buck grumbled, leveling his gaze at the hyeness at the mention of the word staff.

Lance seemed to have rebounded quickly. The previously weary and sickly looking buck suddenly springing to life as he almost seamlessly shifted into 'protocol mode'. Lance had almost taken on an aggressive posture, something that was usually more of Yuri's forte.

"If da mayor won't listen to us, dey soitently ain't gonna listen to youse 'stubby'." The hyena said with a laugh, clearly referencing the stag's stunted horns with her nickname.

Yuri couldn't help but crack a smirk at the hyena's remark. Not only was it funny, but it was more than likely the truth. But what brought the wolf to a full chuckle was watching Lance's cheeks puff out in annoyance as the stag adjusted his glasses.

However, the nurse seemed to pick up on the fact that she may have gone too far when in response to the stag's apparent annoyance. The hyena let out a tired sigh, squeezing the bridge of her muzzle between her thumb and forefinger.

"Look, dey won't let me keep a mini-fridge in here!" The hyena admitted. "You try woiken a twelve hower shift wit nuttin' but vednin' machine food and a really crappy cawfee maka and tell me youse ain't gonna bend a few rules!"

Yuri smirked. He could certainly relate to the plight of being both overworked and under-equipped.

The stag scoffed. " Probably because it's unsanitary." The buck shook his head. "Although I can't imagine it's any more unsanitary than being able to so nonchalantly eat next to a dead mammal, regardless of species."

"Ease off Lance." The wolf said, placing a paw on the stag's shoulder. It was clear between the winding up Lance had done to himself on the way to the morgue, and subsequent humiliation brought about by nearly losing his lunch, the stag's hackles were up. And as funny as it was, it didn't help that the hyena was not so subtly mocking him to boot. That was enough of leaving his partner to twist in the wind for the day.

The stag glared at him briefly, only for the wolf to flash him a knowing glance in return. Soon enough the wolf felt Lance's muscles slacken as the buck let out a sigh, signifying he was handing the reins off to Yuri in order to _'cool down'_. It was a move Yuri had been on the receiving end considerably more often than his partner, but it was mutually recognized between the pair nonetheless.

"Officer Yuri Hunter." The wolf said, extending a friendly paw out the large hyeness.

As she took his paw in hers, the wolf gestured to the stag by his side with his other hand.

"And this here's my partner, Officer Lance Eckhart." Yuri continued.

"Good evening." The buck muttered.

As the hyena clasped his paw, Yuri was taken aback at just how strong a grip the she-yeen had. The wolf had to do everything he could to keep from wincing as she briskly shook his paw with a surprisingly cheery smirk.

"Noise Ada Dabu." The hyena replied. "Great ta meet yas."

"Nurse?" Lance asked, quirking a brow. "And you are in charge of the morgue?"

Ada released her vice-like grip on Yuri's paw, and the wolf quickly retracted it, doing his best to hide it off to his side as he began to flex the now rather crimped muscles in his paw.

"I ain't exactly in charge, no." The hyena admitted with a shrug. "But I'm da head autopsy technician when da udda guy ain't here." Ada flashed the pair a somewhat sheepish grin. "And he rarely eva is..."

That earned another scoff from Lance, the deer's brow furrowing as he threw a glare Yuri's way. It was an easy to read expression, at least to Yuri. Ada had just inadvertently added another negative strike the Stag's mental checklist. Granted Yuri couldn't entirely blame the buck. The large she-yeen seemed to be painting a worse picture of just how seriously she took her job with every sentence.

"I hate to side with my partner here but..." The wolf muttered, bracing the back of his neck with a paw as he awkwardly averted his gaze towards the tile ceiling. "The way ya said that don't exactly instill confidence...'er smack of 'perfessionalism' fer that matter..." The wolf chuckled weakly.

"Don't worry, I'm coitified!" The hyena chuckled awkwardly, holding her paws up in a defensive posture. "Gotta be, lotta multitaskin' required at dis place afta all."

Yuri tried his best to stifle a laugh without raising his paw to his muzzle. Unprofessional, seemingly so. But the hyeness was also fairly entertaining to say the least, which made it all the more surprising that she worked with dead bodies all day.

"Alright, alright." Lance interjected, taking a step forward. Lance glanced up at the towering hyeness, his expression sharp and serious as the stag straightened his tie. Yuri could tell the buck was still struggling to save face after nearly puking just moments before, but considering the hyena had an additional foot over him on top of the one she held over Yuri did little to help the buck in his attempt to command respect."So why exactly did you call us down here. _Miss _Dabu?" The word_ 'miss' _practically rolling out of his muzzle with a hiss.

"The dead ain't risin' from their graves er' nothin'?" Yuri joked. "Cause I left the live-fire weapons in the squad car."

The hyeness let out another loud, barking cackle before once again snapping her paws to her muzzle to stifle it. The she-yeen averted her gaze momentarily as the flush of crimson returned to her features. Yuri smirked. He had to admit, as startling as that barking laugh of hers were, her seeming shame over it was sort of cute.

With her laughter successfully stifled, the hyena pulled her paws from her muzzle, offing a smirk as she shook her paw off to her side.

"Sorry flatfoot, no zombie huntin' tonite." Ada replied. "I'm afraid what I gots to show yas all is more grounded in reality."

"Yes well...That remains to be seen." Lance muttered, crossing his arms.

"I know youse hasn't seen da _'remains'_ yet. Dat's da point." The hyeness replied, smiling cheekily and emphasizing the word remains as she bobbed her eyebrows playfully at the pair. It was enough to draw a slight chuckle from the wolf, but drew merely an eye-roll from his partner.

Ada placed a paw to her muzzle, closing her eyes before clearing her throat sharply as she straightened her stance in a clear attempt to look more professional.

"Alright den, I won't delay ya's any longer." The hyena spoke with a small smirk, gesturing with a paw in the direction of the cloaked cadaver spread out on a gurney in front of her desk. "If youse officers will follow me."

With that, the large hyeness turned curtly on her heels before departing toward the gurney.

Yuri traded glances with his partner, the stag still looking thoroughly annoyed as he adjusted his spectacles.

"The sooner we get this over with, the better." Lance muttered bitterly.

Yuri gave a soft nod in agreement even if he failed to share Lance's irritation. Despite Ada's amusing demeanor, they were still in a morgue after all. And the longer the wolf was forced to linger there, the more the memories of his grandfather would gnaw at his consciousness.

As the Officers approached the body, Yuri watched as Ada squeezed into the space between her rather messy desk and the edge of the gurney. The large hyeness leaned over the cloaked form slightly, bracing her paws on either end of the metal guard that was meant to keep patients from rolling off the bed.

Ada glanced up at the officers, her deep green eyes meeting Yuri's. Ada flashed him a small smirk, clasping the edge of the blanket before her gaze shifted over to Lance. The hyeness quirked a rather dubious eyebrow as she eyed the stag.

"Now I gotta warn yas, dere is a dead mammal unda here." The hyena warned, almost as if she were trying to reassure a frightened pup. "You shore you can keep yours cud in dis time or should I get a bucket?"

A rather loud laugh slipped free of Yuri's muzzle before he could cover it with a paw. As he struggled to chase away the snickering that was still filtering out between his fingers, he could feel his partner actively seething next to him.

Lance crossed his arms, letting out an indignant snort as he turned his snout up and away from Ada.

"Please just show us already!" The buck snapped bitterly.

Ada bit her lip to stifle a laugh of her own before unceremoniously drawing the sheet back.

The first thing to hit Yuri was the rather pungent scent of decay. For most mammals, the scent would have probably come off milder, or perhaps even imperceptible. But to Yuri, it was strong enough to make his nostrils burn with an unpleasant tingling sensation. Drawing a napkin from one of his pockets, the wolf placed it over his nose before turning his attention back to the body before him.

Laid out on the gurney was a male lion. He wasn't particularly large for his species, both in terms of height and general build, but as far as his outward appearance he seemed to be in rather good shape physically. He was thin but toned, and his coat was very well maintained. Aside from a few stray strands that Yuri could call 'out of place', more than likely from whatever led to his death, his mane of fur was almost immaculately shaped. To Yuri this immediately signified the deceased was at least a lion of moderate wealth. Perhaps upper-middle class. This was a mammal who cared greatly about his appearance and had the cash to pay to keep it up.

As Yuri continued to scan the mammal's still form, he noticed some slight bruising around his fingertips, as well as several incisions, however those were clearly part of the autopsy probe. But to get any sort of better look, he would have to get in close and actually move the body around.

"Aw geeze, I didn't tink to ask if youse needed a mask!" Ada's comment drew the wolf's glance up to her, the hyeness flashing him a look of genuine concern. "I forgot how's sensative some mam's sniffa's can be."

Before Yuri could even protest, the hyena had turned around, bending over her desk as she began to rifle through one of the drawers presumably in an attempt to dig up a disposable mask for him. As Ada leaned more deeply into the desk, the wolf's eyes couldn't help but be drawn to her thick, rather shapely posterior. His irises almost lighting up as they traced the wide curve of her thighs. Yuri had always preferred his girls with a bit of meat on their bones. Much like the handlebars on his motorcycle, a nice thick ass gave him something to _'grab onto and ride_'. Yuri wasn't entirely sure if scrubs were meant to be flattering in any capacity, but in Ada's case, she more than managed to make it work. And as she continued to struggle to dig something out of the desk for him, the wolf's mind couldn't help but begin to wonder just what grabbing on to those _'handlebars'_ might feel like. The wolf's muzzle split into a rather toothy grin at the thought, as a warm chuckle escaped his lips.

A light scoff drew Yuri out of his lurid little fantasy before it could truly get off the ground, and the wolf turned to find his partner Lance glaring at him with a look of disbelief, a bemused smirk fighting to form on his muzzle as he eyed the wolf. The buck had known Yuri more than long enough to be able to read his expressions like a book, and it was clear Lance had noticed exactly just where Yuri's thoughts had drifted.

_"Oh my gods..." _The stag mouthed quietly, shaking his head in disapproval despite clearly trying to stifle a laugh.

Yuri offered a quiet shrug. _"What?"_ The wolf mouthed back.

Flashing the buck a rather devious smirk, Yuri leaned over the body of the lion and within inches of Ada's rump. The wolf drew his paws out, setting them from one end of her prodigious posterior to the other in order to properly outline Ada's gratuitous '_tracts of land'_ as he smirked at his partner. Lance rolled his eyes, letting out scoff in disgust.

"How can y'all look at a perfect ass like that and judge me fer oglin' it?" The wolf whispered...

"Now who's bein' unprasfessional?" Yuri froze in mute horror at Ada's unexpected reply. Somehow she had caught his rather excessive display. The wolf's blood ran cold, his body momentarily frozen as his eyes desperately began to scan for just how she had managed to spot him. His yellow irises darting from point to point around the hyena to see just where she was looking back at him from.

"Aldough I appreciate da compliment, offica Hunta." Ada added with a giggle, giving her rump a subtle shake that the wolf might have noticed had he not been in full panic mode. Yuri's eyes finally spotted what appeared to be a medical mirror lying in a tray of tools near the drawer the hyena was digging through, the angle of the head perfectly lined up to reflect the hyena looking back at him with a bemused smirk.

Yuri quickly recoiled as his blood quickly shifted from frigid to broiling, the wolf shooting straight up into his more rehearsed, authoritative 'officer' stance. He could feel the flesh under his cheek fur burning as he tugged at his collar uneasily, the wolf reluctantly flashing his partner a glance that pleaded for his help.

For the first time since they had arrived, Lance was smiling. The buck had a hoof clasped over his muzzle, clearly trying his best keep from laughing over Yuri finding himself caught red-pawed.

"Yes, well...Ahem..." Lance cleared his throat sharply, doing his best to both stifle his laughter and pretend he hadn't seen or heard the exchange in order to avoid whatever awkward flirting would indubitably come from it. "My partner does have a particularly sharp sense of smell." The buck continued, removing his lenses momentarily before starting to wipe them clean with his tie. "It seems to be a common trait among canine types."

Placing his spectacles back on his muzzle, the buck placed his hooves on his hips.

"I will say it is quite remarkable that you don't seem to need a mask yourself." Lance added.

"Yes!" The hyena barked triumphantly as she pulled a medical mask free of her desk drawer. Turning back to face the officers, Ada passed the mask off to the thoroughly embarrassed Yuri with a rather smug smile before turning her attention back to the diminutive buck.

"Yeen's ain't canines bud." Ada replied, holding up a claw before pressing the pad of her finger against her nose. "We's our own species, and ancient yeens almost exclusively ate rotten flesh."

Lance grimaced in disgust, his complexion paling slightly as the thought seemed to turn his already soured stomach.

"So I got da yeen nose goin' for me already, but more den anyting I tink ya's get used to da stink afta a while..."The hyena gave the officers an indifferent shrug.

"Heh-heh...yeah..." Yuri replied awkwardly, drawing the hyena's attention back on him. Ada squinted at him slightly, placing a paw on her hip as she flashed the wolf a rather playful looking smirk. He could see a glint in her eyes, a shimmer behind the green that told him that she was sizing him up.

"So!" Yuri barked awkwardly, clapping his paws together loudly in a desperate bid to get out of the hyena's cross-hairs. "This fella. What can y'all tell us about him miss Dabu?" The wolf added as he brought the medical mask to his muzzle and drew the strap over the top of his head before releasing it with an audible snap.

Yuri's haphazard release and placement not only had him wincing from the sting of the plastic strap against his fur, which was now thankfully hidden by the mask, but it also caused the medical mask to sit crookedly over the wolf's muzzle. It wasn't perfect, but to Yuri it would stay in the right place long enough to get through this examination with the added benefit of not getting tangled up in his ears while trying to take it off.

Ada's eyebrows bobbed, her smirk fading as she shifted her attention back to the cold body on the gurney.

"Ah yeah, dis fella!" Ada exclaimed, leaving the wolf to let out a quiet sigh of relief as her laser-like focus turned to the task at paw. Ada clapped her paws together, rubbing them feverishly in what looked like anticipation before glancing at Yuri.

In that moment, the wolf saw that gleam in Ada's eyes return. Her features seeming to sharpen as the aura around her shifted into something surprisingly commanding.

"Dis mooks name is Leonard Felis." Ada spoke, her tone growing cool and clinical. As she spoke, the hyena drew a pair of latex gloves from a box on the table, and began to slip one of them on as she continued. "Apparent cause a deth was cardiac arrest." Ada released the hem of the glove with an audible snap before gesturing lamely to the visible slit in the lion's chest with her now gloved paw. From what Yuri could tell, it seemed as though the chest had been cut more than once. First, there was the more noticeable line drawn from the shoulders to the groin that was clearly the work of an autopsy technician. But looking around the area Ada had directed his gaze, he could see what looked like the end lines of an incision that had been cut over. A significantly smaller opening that had been centered over the heart. It was enough to tell Yuri that the doctors who had been treating him had gone as far as manually pumping the lion's heart to start it up again. The wolf also noted traces of thread holes that ran alongside the autopsy wound, suggesting the cadaver had been sealed at some point and later reopened which was odd to say the least. The hyena slipped her other glove on as she leaned over the body slightly, bracing her paws on the guard rail.

"He was DOA when dey got him in. Completely non-respawnsive, dough da docs tried to start his heart again with pumpin' by paw." Ada continued, placing a paw down on the flesh near the smaller slit. "From what I found out later from da EMT's who took da call, dey found dis guy nearly unresponsive at da scene. His eyes was opened and diyalated, and dey followed light, but all he could do was gurgle and growl." The hyena shrugged. "Well dat, and apparently tries and swipes at 'em once or twice."

"Wait, swipe?" Yuri asked. "As in he was tryin' to attack the first responders?"

The hyena gave an affirmative nod.

"Dey said it was a weak effort. Da guy could barely manage it, but he swung his claws at 'em more den once." Ada added. "Even croaked out a real gutteral snarl..."

"Is that so strange?" Lance asked.

"Surely a mammal sufferin' from a heart attack might not exactly be in full control of his faculties." Yuri added, presumably predicting the question his partner was about to ask. Lance gave a slight nod of agreement.

"Pft...you call yaselfs cops." The hyena chuckled softly, shaking her head. "Well I suppose I shouldn't expects a couple of beat cops ta know da nuances of how mammals bodies tend ta respond when put unda soiten specific stresses."

That comment earned a scoff from Lance, the buck crossing his arms as he quirked a dubious brow.

"We're technically detectives." The stag rebuffed.

"Multitaska's too eh?" Ada replied, furrowing her brow. "Well I hopes you twos is soitified." The hyena's gaze lowered on Lance as she spoke, a hint of sarcasm lacing her voice. All it managed to get was another scoff from the diminutive buck.

At this, the hyena seemed to backtrack, her demeanor softening as she let out a soft sigh, rubbing the back of her neck uneasily. "Okay, okay, I'll admit, it ain't entirely outtaduh question unda normal circumstances." Ada shrugged weakly. "But trust me when when I say dat as a medical professional it just doesn't really fit wit a pure heart attack diagnosis."

"Mmh..." Lance mumbled, clearly unimpressed by Ada's use of the term 'medical professional'.

Ada tapped a paw against Leo's chest. "I'm tryin' to tell youse dere's more goin' on wit dis fella den a heart attack alone. Between what I found diggin' around in dis guys guts and all da udder stuff I got from da foist responders somtin' really stinks here!" Ada glanced back up at the two officers, her eyes sharp and steely as her voice dipped into a more serious tone than Yuri had heard from the hyeness so far. "I'm tellin' youse dis guy didn't go down dah way dey are sayin' he did." The hyena leaned forward slightly, eyeing the detectives with a suspicious glare. "Not a chance."

Lance glanced over to Yuri, the stag rolling his eyes slightly. It was clear the wolf's partner was already tired of listening to whatever tale Ada was trying to weave. Whether it was due to him feeling thoroughly humiliated from his little scare upon entering the morgue, that he had already made a surface assessment on the hyeness and deemed her to be lacking a level of credibility that met his standards, or some combination of the two, Yuri could see the patience wearing thin on his partner's brow line. But Yuri was intrigued. That glimmer that lingered in Ada's shimmering green eyes seemed to tell the wolf that there was more going on there than Lance was willing to see. He could practically see the gears turning behind her irises, and it was part of the reason the wolf found himself reluctant to side with his partner's increasingly dismissive attitude. The other reason was a feeling growing inside the wolf that he couldn't quite pinpoint. It was a feeling that kept the wolf fixed in his spot, and oddly more eager to hear her out then he had been upon entering the morgue. It wasn't quite Hunter's intuition, but something else. Something the wolf couldn't quite place.

Yuri cleared his throat. "Miss Dabu, would you mind starting from the beginning?"

"Yes..." Lance added, a bit of an edge to his tone as he spoke. "Because the gods know this is already hard to follow enough as it is..." The stag grumbled quietly.

Ada leaned back, seemingly ignoring Lance's visible disinterest and offering the pair a confident smirk as she audibly cracked her knuckles.

"Not problem fellas..." Ada chuckled.

Turning slightly, the large hyena grasped a medical chart from her desk before tossing it off to Yuri, the wolf nearly dropping the chart directly on the body below as the sudden movement had caught him by surprise. Yuri fumbled with the large clipboard for a moment before managing to get a solid grip, but once he did, the wolf carefully righted the chart and began to skim the face of the document. Meanwhile, Ada leaned over toward the corner of the gurney, gripping her paw on the handle of a large, mobile surgical light and positioning it over the lion. Taking a moment to angle it to her liking, the hyena flipped a switch in the back of it, suddenly bathing the already pale-looking lion in a nearly blinding, sterile white light.

"Let's start wit da woik up." Ada said, gesturing to the chart in Yuri's paws. "Leonard Felis, male, foity-tree years old, married, blood type Owe." Ada continued, raising a paw and rolling it lazily as she closed her eyes. "Woiks as a yoga instructa and is a bit of a health nut. Jogs every morning, has a very strict diet, and is very inta herbal supplement type stuff and holistik healin'. Also uses mild amounts of rekreational drugs" Ada offered the pair a shrug. "I'm shoire youse guys know da types. Dose fellas dat take a bit a catnip or mushooms cause dey tink it gives dem 'spiritual enlightenment' or whatevas. If it's natural, it's gotta be good for yas rite?" The hyena chuckled.

Yuri's eyes followed the information on the chart as Ada continued, the wolf nodding along with her statements. The hyena seemed to have memorized most of the chart's contents regardless of her colorful paraphrasing.

"Dat said, he wasn't on any of dat stuff when dey brought him in. Tested clean fer all da _'usual' _suspects." Ada seemed to emphasize the word 'usual' with a tone that implied there was something more. But Yuri assumed pressing the hyena on it now would merely earn him and Lance another _'I'll get to that' from the _hyeness.

"But dere was no pre-existin' health conditions, and no health conditions detected post-mortem," Ada added.

Yuri looked up from the chart, quirking an intrigued brow at the hyena across from him.

"So...no murmurs? Nothin' like that?" Yuri asked.

Ada smirked. "Nope. By all accounts, dis fella shoulda been helty as an ox!" Ada leaned in slightly, offering the two officers a rather cryptic glare. "At least, based on da foist autopsy's results."

Yuri froze slightly, his mind mulling over the hyena's odd phrasing. _'The first autopsy.' _Well, that explained the previous threading holes. But the fact that more than one autopsy was done struck the wolf as unusual, and he was about to open his muzzle to ask about it, however Lance struck first with his own commentary, seemingly having missed Ada's phrasing entirely perhaps due to his apparent disinterest.

"Hmm..." Lance murmured. The buck's arms had remained crossed tightly during the Hyena's entire retelling of the patient's file, his eyes fixed with a skeptical skew on the hyena opposite him.

"Well, it's not entirely uncommon for fitness-centric mammals to die of heart-related problems even without having a history of cardiac issues." The stag idly scratched his leg with his other foot. "I'm sure someone in your '_field'_ has read a multitude of articles involving mammals that dropped dead while jogging from a seemingly random heart attack?" The stag's tone was vaguely sarcastic, with a bit of a patronizing lilt meshed into it for good measure. It was a tone that was all too familiar to Yuri, one he had recognized from the stag's liberal use of it during his first few months working with Lance as his partner. Back when the buck had doubted the wolf's credentials and intellect based on the length of his drawl, as well as the way he had carried himself. And now the buck was clearly doubting Ada for what appeared to be the same reason. "And if he was a drug user, even mildly. I'd imagine it doesn't have to be active in his system to affect his long term health due to exposure or withdrawl?"

Ada's seemingly persistent smirk seemed to falter slightly, her eyes jumping back to the body on the gurney before shifting back to the diminutive stag. The hyena opened her muzzle for a moment, whatever she had to say seemingly hesitating before she elected to simply close her muzzle again. To Yuri, it seemed like the she-yeen was suddenly suffering some sort of stage fright. Lance closed his eyes tightly, rubbing the bridge of his muzzle with his thumb and forefinger in what seemed like mild irritation.

"Miss Dabu..." The wolf couldn't help himself, even though he had a gut feeling that bringing it up would only make things worse. "Ya mentioned 'the first autopsy's results..."

Lance seemed to perk up slightly, the stag exchanging a glance with Yuri before turning his attention back to the hyena. Yuri's little reminder seemed to have made the stag aware of just what he had missed.

"First?" Lance asked. "There was a need for more than one?"

Ada offered the stag a sheepish smile, the hyena rubbing the back of her neck in embarrassment.

"Well, ya sees, da first autopsy was done by Doc Moleson, he's da fella who's da head autopsy technician." Ada admitted with a wince. "I did dee...er...follow-up."

Yuri exchanged a rather suspicious glance Lance, the buck quirking a dubious brow at him before rubbing the bridge of his snout and letting out a tired sigh.

"I take it this 'follow-up' was..." Lance sighed. "By your own initiative?"

Ada winced slightly, her ears sagging as she averted her gaze from the pair of officers.

"Well, Da Doc's real old, And he misses alotta stuff so...!" Ada stammered slightly."I-I just double checked his woik, ya'know?"

"So, you are telling us you performed an unauthorized autopsy?" Lance asked, his eyes closed tightly as he continued to rub the bridge of his snout. "Is that correct Miss Dabu?"

"Look, I had toos okay!" Ada spat. Patting a paw on the cadaver's chest. "I-!"

"Look, Miss Dabu." Lance cut the hyena off, letting out another tired sigh. "Forgive me for being blunt, but you do realize if there is any sort of case here, your breaking of hospital protocol doesn't help us, right?" The buck adjusted his spectacles. "Taking an action like that could deem whatever you _'found' _invalidated." The buck added, making air quotes with his hooves as he said the word _'found' _in a clear effort to show just how much weight the hyena's words were carrying with him.

"Look, I know alrites, but just-."

"It could potentially be thrown out in a trial." The stag continued. "And that's to say nothing of what could happen to your job if-."

"Alright Lance." Yuri stepped in, placing a paw on his partner's shoulder. "We ain't the gal's supervisors, so let's just sideline all that _'unauthorized autopsy' _stuff fer a bit."

"Put it aside?" Lance replied in disbelief.

"We haven't exactly heard all the evidence yet, so we can't even rightly assess if it could be deemed invalid." The wolf shrugged. "Let alone exactly why Miss Dabu felt it necessary to go out of her way to perform a second autopsy." The wolf raised a paw, lazily rolling his wrist as he continued. "We should at least hear her out."

Lance opened his muzzle for a moment, the buck seemingly about to protest only for Yuri to cut him off.

"Miss Dabu, would ya excuse me and my partner fer a moment?" The wolf asked as he wrapped an arm around the diminutive stag, pulling him into an unnecessarily tight side grip. Lance flashed his partner an irritated glare, but Yuri chose to ignore it as he flashed the nurse a forced smile.

"Oh yeah...er...shores..." The hyena muttered, her ears still cowed in defeat as she turned her gaze down toward the cold form that was once Leonard Felis. "I'll eh...just check ovas my woik."

With the hyeness seemingly distracted, Yuri corralled his partner away from the scene, the two mammals now having their backs to Ada as Yuri bent down slightly to get to Lance's level.

Lance flashed Yuri a rather dubious glare, pushing his arm off of his shoulder as he let out a quiet scoff.

"Yuri." The stag spoke in a hushed tone. "I don't think this girl is as reliable as whoever vouched for her had led us to believe. " Lance shook his head. " Honestly, she seems out of her depth, and it's as though she's trying to hide her incompetence behind a smokescreen by making a big performance out of nothing."Lance offered the wolf a shoulder shrug, raising his hooves pleadingly.

"Why do ya say that?" Yuri replied, eyeing the stag dubiously.

Lance peered over his shoulder slightly at Ada, pointing a thumb in her direction in a way only Yuri could see. Out of the corner of his eye, the wolf watched as the unaware nurse placed a thumb against the lion's chin and began to open and close his lower jaw, her smirk returning slightly as she did so. "Tell me honestly, does she scream 'professional' to you?"

Yuri winced slightly, but the wolf did his best to quickly cover it up by quickly turning to the she-yeens defense. "So she's a little rough around the edges..." The wolf shrugged. "Not every mammal has to be the spittin' image of their profession to get the job done do they?" The wolf chuckled softly. "The gods know they wouldn't have hired either one of us to be officers if that were true."

The stag let out a soft scoff. "Well, regardless that's not even the point." Lance retorted.

"Then what are ya gettin' at exactly?" Yuri replied.

Lance placed a hoof over his eyes, letting out a tired sigh. "That this girl is merely grasping at straws." The buck replied. " I think this whole 'case' is more about what she can try to get out of us rather than there being any real crime at hoof." Lance gestured a hoof at nothing particular. "I think this girl is looking for a way out of this slum of a hospital and on to bigger and better things. Even if she has to bend the rules and fabricate evidence to get there."

"That don't make any sense." Yuri shook his head dismissively.

"How so?" Lance replied, crossing his arms.

"If she was makin' stuff up to get us down here just to get us to offer her some job er' somethin', fabricatin' a crime ain't gonna earn her any points in her favor." The wolf replied. "Certainly wouldn't look good on an interview."

"'Sides, spinnin' a yarn to the police is a crime in and of itself." Yuri added. "The Gal doesn't seem like she's got anythang to gain."

Lance shook his head. " Look, all I'm saying is there has to be an ulterior motive." The stag huffed, crossing his arms. " I don't know what her endgame is, but there has to be a reason she's overstepping every protocol."

"Seems like yer the one graspin' at straws fer reasons not to hear this gal out." Yuri lowered his gaze at the stag incredulously. " Maybe because she nearly made y'all lose yer cud a few minutes ago?"

Lance let out a huff, the remark clearly touching a nerve as he crossed his arms defensively.

"Just why are you going to bat for this girl anyway?" The stag furrowed his brow. "Because you like her posterior, is that it? Just want to spend all night padding around a rutting morgue so you can have a shot at getting in her scrubs?" The buck scoffed.

"It ain't about that!" The wolf sneered.

"Then what exactly is it all about Yuri?" The stag snapped back. "I mean by the gods, under any other circumstance I feel you would have been right there with me in terms of doubting this girl." The stag let out a slight chuckle. "Hell, you would have been ready to dismiss her story several minutes ahead of me." The stag paused, stroking his chin thoughtfully. "In fact, if I'm not mistaken not more than ten minutes ago you were eager to write this whole thing off as a prank call." The deer quirked a dubious brow. "And now your the one pleading with me to stick around?"

Lance chuckled, shaking his head it what seemed like disbelief. "If it were any other day I would have been the one telling you to hold on just a little bit longer, but I guess I didn't get the memo that we were changing roles."

It hadn't been Hunter's intuition that had made him more willing to listen, no. It was a different gut feeling. A feeling of kinship with this strange, quirky hyena that he barely knew. Someone whom mammals like Lance were immediately willing to write off simply because of their accent, their personality. A mammal who was forced to work twice as hard to overcome that initial prejudice they were met with by their co-workers in order to earn their respect, begrudged or otherwise.

The way the stag had been ready to so casually dismiss what she had to say despite it sounding like she had put a great degree of effort into it reminded the wolf of his rookie days. Of enduring the same treatment from Lance on a day to day basis until the wolf had eventually managed to prove himself competent enough to be seen as an equal. In that scene, the wolf couldn't help but see himself in Ada. But that was something he was unwilling to admit to his colleague. They had already gotten more than close enough to having a heart to heart today, and the last thing he wanted was to give the shrimpy buck enough ammunition to tease the wolf for the rest of his professional career, as well as lead him to believe the wolf actually did have a heart buried somewhere under his pelt.

"I got a gut feelin' okay!" The wolf spat in desperation. "So just trust me damn it!"

"One of your gut feelings again..." Lance rolled his eyes. "Are you sure that feeling isn't coming from something below that gut of yours?"

"Pft..." Yuri scoffed, despite cracking the faintest hint of a smirk. Despite the situation, he had to give it to his partner for having a fairly decent comeback lined up. And if the wolf was being honest, the stag wasn't entirely off the mark.

"Alright...I ain't gonna lie." The wolf lolled his head slightly, averting his gaze. "I think she's a purty yeen." The wolf spoke, keeping his tone a low as he possibly could as he uttered his confession. However, as soon as the words left his muzzle, the wolf's lackadaisical gaze quickly shifted to a solemn and serious glare pointed directly at Lance's own. The dark-furred wolf's deep amber yellow eyes meeting the stag's baby blues with a sharp intensity that Yuri hoped would underline exactly how seriously he meant what he was going to say.

"But you know as well as I do that iffin' there's one thing I'd stake my badge on, it's my intuition." The wolf continued, his voice growing low and gravely as he stared down the diminutive stag. "You and I've been working together fer years now, and y'all know I've never once joked when it came to that gut feelin'."

Reaching out with a paw, the wolf firmly grasped Lance's upper arm, keeping his solemn gaze locked on the stags own.

"And while I know ya might be..." The wolf lolled his head slightly as he searched for the proper word. "Skeptical about that sorta thing well..." The wolf tilted his head slightly as he regarded Lance. "At this point in our _'partnership',_ ya wouldn't call my competence into question would ya?"

Lance scrunch his muzzle, a clear look of discomfort forming on his features as his eyes began to drift away from the wolf's own. "Well..." The deer murmured.

"And how many times have them gut feelins' been off base?" The wolf added, gingerly shaking the stag's arm in an effort to draw his attention back to the wolf looming over him.

Despite his clear desire to resist, Lance's features seemed to soften slightly.

"Mhh..." Lance grumbled softly. "I suppose..." The buck reluctantly admitted.

Yuri let out a dull chuckle as he rolled his eyes. Sometimes Lance could be so much of a stubborn ass the wolf often joked that he was probably meant to be born one. Still, if the wolf we're being honest with himself, he wasn't all the much better when he was on the other side of this sort of discussion.

"Look, just give this gal five minutes to lay her cards on the table and I'll pay fer our lunches fer the next week." Yuri relinquished, offering his partner a smirk. "Just five minutes, no interrupitin', okay?"

Lance glanced back up the wolf, the diminutive stag quirking a brow as he appeared to be considering the wolf's bribe.

"Two weeks." Lance replied, the stag crossing his arms as a smirk of his own crept onto his muzzle.

Yuri furred his brow, the wolf letting out a soft chuckle.

"Yer such a dick sometimes, y'all know that?" The wolf replied, extending a paw to his partner.

"Takes one to know one my friend." Lance replied, as the two shook hands briskly.

"Alright." Lance rolled his eyes. "I'll give you your five minutes."

Yuri managed a small smirk.

"But if she proves to be as incompetent as she seems by then, I walk." Lance added, holding up a finger. "And if you won't come along willingly by that point the report for this little fiasco will have you on it as well..."

The two shared a nod of agreement before abruptly turning back to face Ada, both mammals now wearing forced smiles in an effort to hide the nature of their argument.

Ada glanced up from Leo's remains, flashing the two a sly smirk.

"So, are youse twos done havin' yas little spat?" The hyeness chuckled. "Didja's kiss and make up?"

Lance let out an unamused sigh, although whether that was because Ada had instantly seen through their facade, or regret over his agreement with Yuri the wolf couldn't exactly tell.

"Yes-." The buck muttered. "So..." The stag cleared his throat sharply. "You'll have to pardon me Miss Dabu, but before we allow you to continue whatever it is you have to tell us, can you explain to me and my partner exactly why you found it necessary to perform a second autopsy on this mammal." The stag gestured a lame hoof toward the deceased lion in front of him.

Ada's eyes shifted to the floor as a nervous, guilty-looking expression crept across her muzzle.

"Well..." The hyena shrugged uneasily. "Okay, so...let me start by sayin' dat when it comes to tendin' da morgue, it's a pretty er...slow job..." Ada admitted.

"I see..." Lance replied.

"When you ain't workin' on bodies, it's more or less just watchin' ova da department and makin' shoire nuttin' comes in or out dat ain't supposta." The hyena continued, resting an arm on the rail of Lenoard's cot. "Needless ta say, it can get kinda borin' sometoimes."

"So...ya just practice autopsy's fer fun then?" Yuri asked bluntly as he made his way back to his side of the gurney. The wolf quirked a dubious eyebrow at the nurse. "I know this hospital ain't exactly five star, but I can't imagine that there ain't somethin' in the rule book about that."

Ada let out another awkward cackle before once again covering it tightly with a paw, a renewed blush rapidly forming on her muzzle as she tried to stifle her odd giggling fit. It was an odd reaction, to say the least. The wolf's last remark barely qualified as a joke in any sense. But he couldn't help but smirk at her bashful response to her own sudden outburst.

"S-Sorry..." Ada remarked weakly as she drew he paw away from her muzzle, briefly wiping it on her scrubs before resting it back on the rail.

Yuri chuckled. "It's fine." The wolf replied. "It's glad to know someone around here thinks I'm funny."

Ada let out a considerably tamer laugh in response, a nervous smirk returning to her lips.

"Ohs I er..." Ada spoke, rubbing the back of her neck with a paw. "I mean, look, don't get me's wrong yours jokes are funny, but eh..." Bracing her neck against her paw, the hyeness lolled her head back slightly. "But eh...sometimes when I'm noivus or excited, I uh...I mean I laugh like dat." Ada offered the wolf a meek shrug. "I-It's sorta a tic, ya knows?"

Yuri's smile faltered slightly, his expression shifting to one of mild confusion before Ada's words truly sank in.

"Oh." The wolf replied awkwardly, returning to a more rigid stance. "R-Right...I mean...I was gonna ask about the...uh...ya know?" The wolf awkwardly gestured to the paw Ada had used to cover her laugh before pantomiming bringing it to his muzzle. The gesture only seemed to make the nurse look that much more uncomfortable, and unfortunately for Yri had done less to help him recover the awkward situation than if he had elected to do nothing at all.

The wolf let out a weak whistling of air as his eyes darted toward the direction of his partner. His wide, almost fearful glance acting as a desperate signal for the stag to pull him out of the social mess he had gotten himself into. Luckily, Lance seemed to get the message.

"It's fine Miss Dabu, now about the autopsy?" Lance interjected, taking the reins of the conversation back from the wolf with his foot in his mouth.

"Right, right, shoire." Ada seemed to snap out of her sudden malaise as she shifted her attention Lance's way.

Straightening her stance, the she-yeen gestured a paw to the body lying before them.

"Anyways, when I foist clock in I gots a long days ahead of mes, so I does a lot of busy woik." Ada shrugged. "Checkin' stock, refillin' and sterilizin' tings, and of course, 'checkin' inventory'."

Lance quirked a brow curiously. "'_Inventory'_?" The stag queried.

Ada nodded briskly. "Basicallies I take a quick peek at all of our er...'residents', y'know?" The hyena continued, once again gesturing to the lifeless lion. "I give 'em a quick looksie, and check dere charts to see what dun 'em in, what was done afta da fact, and ta see who's leavin' for more 'poimanent' accomidations."

Lance furrowed his brow, the stag looking as though he were about to question the level of appropriateness of the hyena's 'inventory' check, however the hyena cut him off before he could speak. The large mammal seeming to find her focus once more as she continued her tale.

"Before ya says anyting, yous should know I do it more to study da chart woik, and familiarize myself wits da writeups and proceedures I might be unawares of." Ada continued confidently. "I ain't just doin' it cause I'm nosey or sumtin'!" The hyeness rebuffed.

Lance exhaled quietly, whatever rebuttal he had prepared dissipating along with his breath.

"Anyways, da long and short of it is, when I was lookin' ova Mista Felis' chart, I realized sumtin' was wrong." The hyena continued.

"What?" Yuri asked, the wolf quirking a curious brow.

"Well..." Ada lolled her head from side to side lazily as she spoke. " Just lookin' ova his body da foist time, it didn't seem ol' like Doc Moleson had followed da full proceedure when it came to his autopsy." Ada shrugged. "I mean, to da untrained eye anyone would tink it was a done job, but I could tell da woik was bare minimum. Totally surfoice level autopsy woik, and shabby at dat."

"Well, how detailed of an autopsy does one need to perform on a mammal who has been confirmed to have died from a heart attack?" Lance asked, his hooves now clasped to the rail of the gurney as he warily eyed the body.

"I'd imagine ya wouldn't have to do a lot o' diggin' after gettin' to the heart." Yuri added.

Ada shook her head. "Normally's I might agrees witcha." The hyena offered a weak shrug. "But Moleson, he's an old fella." The hyena raised a paw, rolling her wrist lazily as she continued. "Nearly blind, and gettin' real sloppy wit his woik." The hyena chuckled weakly. "He's basically just got his claws dug in for retoiroment at dis point, and dat's why sometimes I gotta double check his woik."

"Ahh..." Yuri replied. "So that's why you did it."

Ada shook her head dismissively.

"Not dis toime." The hyena replied before gesturing the chart Yuri had left on the gurney. "Naw, da issue here is dat da outline of da autopsy was way too detailed based on da amount of woik I could tell was actually performed."

Yuri picked up the lion's chart once more, his amber eyes scanning the pages more closely as Ada continued.

"Also, dere's a few pretty glarin' injuries dat weren't even listed on da chart." Ada added, gesturing to the body again. "Half da visible bruises dis guy has ain't even mentioned despite da heart attack prognosis sounden' as dough it's been pulled right outta sum med student's teesis!" The Hyena shook her head. "Nobody here goes inta dat level of detail, especially not doc Moleson." Ada chuckled. "He's onnna dem old folks dat don't have time to write out anyting longer den a sentence, and even dat's taxin' for him."

As Yuri's eyes settled over the rather dense wall of text that had been tucked into the later part of the chart, the law wolf found himself scratching his head. Now, Yuri wasn't a fool, although most mammals probably would take him for one considering the stereotype surrounding wolf intelligence. And even though the wolf had largely stuck to his lane in terms of expertise, several years of working police and alongside forensics and other medical mammals had given him enough cursory knowledge to navigate the basics of most medical charts save for special district code lingo. However, reading through the description of the autopsy felt more like trying to read the overly long user agreement for some new fangled software. It was rife with wordage that to Yuri would have sounded more fitting in one of those eighteenth-century stories he struggled to read through in highschool, and more importantly, it stank of a smokescreen.

"Hmm..." Lance uttered, drawing the wolf's attention to the stag now leaned in next to him. Lance was reading over his shoulder, a look of mild discomfort lacing his features.

"I must admit...I'm getting a lot of repetition in that document." Lance spoke, his eyes narrowing slightly. "A lot of unnecessarily complicated ways to conclude this mammal died of a heart attack."

Yuri let out a quiet sigh of relief. At least now he didn't have to say it and risk hearing a possible_ 'dumb wolf' _joke lobbed his way from the stag.

"So da lack of woik, coupled wit da radder..._'verbose'_ write up, got my curiosity piqued." The hyena smirked, that strange, determined-looking glint in her eye seeming to return as she placed her paws on the rail of the gurney. "Naturally's I don't want da old Doc to get foired for negligence." Ada shrugged. "I mean, da guiz old, he desoives his retoirment. So I hads to at least do da woik he didn't do..." Ada frowned slightly, her green eyes shifting downward. "At least dat's hows I felt before I started tinkin' his write up mighta been...on poipose..."

"Are you saying this Doctor Moleson might have faked his report?" The stag asked, his tone one of slight surprise.

"But why?" Yuri added, placing the chart back on the gurney as he glanced toward the hyeness. "He have somethin' against this fella?"

Ada shook her head dismissively. "I dunno if it's Doc Moleson, Dis mooks wife, or some udder fella." Ada replied, bracing her neck with a paw as she grimaced awkwardly."But based on everyting I've been able to piece togeddah from foist hand accounts from da emt, dose falsified paypas, and my own tests, I can say wit one hundred and one poicent soitenty dat Leo's heart attack was just da icing on da cake in toims of what did him in."

Yuri leaned in slightly, the wolf's ears perking up as he found himself intrigued once more.

"So, what was the cause?" The wolf asked.

Ada leaned over the rail, gesturing for the officers to lean in close. Her deep green eyes seemingly scanning the room for any other mammals that may have been eavesdropping on the group. Yuri was the first to lean in, the wolf's curiosity compelling him to follow Ada's gesture. Lance however, was somewhat reluctant. Yuri watched from the corner of his eye as the stag slowly edged over the rail, all the while his eyes uneasily darting between the corpse resting just below them and Ada's face, his muzzle twisted into an uneasy cringe.

Seemingly satisfied with how close the officers were, Ada placed a paw next to her muzzle as if to shield it from prying eyes.

"I'm purty shoires he was poisoned wit a stimulant." The hyena whispered."Specificallys Night Howla."

Lance immediately drew back from the uncomfortable huddle, letting out an exaggeratedly loud scoff.

"Night Howler!?" Lance laughed. "You can't be serious!"

"SHHH!" Yuri loomed over Lance, glowering at the stag.

"But there would have been reports of some mammal going savage! There's no way-!"

"Five minutes." Yuri whispered, placing a paw to the side of his muzzle just as Ada had previously. "Five minutes, no interruptin'."

Lance opened his muzzle, sputtering out a few weak, broken syllables of protest before letting out an annoyed huff and crossing his arms defensively.

"It's been two already." The stag finally managed, albeit in a defeated tone. "She's got three left."

Turning his attention back to the hyena, the wolf leaned on the opposite guard rail, quirking a dubious brow in her direction.

"That's a pretty serious claim." Yuri admitted, albeit begrudgingly. While he was not ready to simply shut down the she-yeen's conclusion like his partner, the wolf couldn't exactly see the connection between the drug and the body laying below him. "But I don't think I ain't ever heard of Night Howler givin' a mammal a heart attack before..."

"To be fair, most mammals don't know all dat much about night howla, And even dat case in Zootopia tree years back didn't inspoiya too many folks to look into da stuff." The hyena admitted with a shrug. "Yas remember da Night Holwa scandal right? Da one wit dat assistant mayor... what was his name, Dell heifer?"

"Bellwether." Yuri replied, shaking his head. "And I'm purty sure that it was a gal, not a fella."

Ada offered the wolf another weak shrug. "Eh, looked like a guy to me..."

"Anyway, take it yer gonna walk us through how y'all got to that conclusion?" Yuri replied, raising a brow.

Flashing the wolf a smirk, the large hyeness turned back to her desk, bending over it to open yet another unseen drawer. For a few moments the she-yeen was practically falling over the tabletop, loudly fumbling through some unseen mess of papers before hefting herself back into a standing position. As she turned to face the officers again, Yuri could see she was holding yet another set of charts.

"Heres." Ada said, once again tossing the chart Yuri's way. Thankfully this time the wolf had been prepared for the lob, catching the clipboard rife with papers in his paws with ease.

"Dis here is my poisenal report." Ada continued, gesturing lamely at the papers she had passed off to Yuri. "I usually write ups a draft of what's I got to change fois Moleson's slip-ups befores tryin' to fudge stuff onta his reports dat looks like his paw-writin'." The hyeness lolled her head slightly. "But after tings started seemin' fishy, I decided to keep all my notes seperate."

Yuri gave a cursory glance at the face of the sheet, noting the surprisingly neat penmamship that presumably made up Ada's paw writing. Unlike the previous sheet, the hyeness' notes were concise, to the point, and most importantly, easy for the wolf to understand.

"Iffin' youse would toin ovas to page tree." Ada gestured at the clipboard once more. "Dat's where all da relevant lab results is."

Turning to the page Ada had indicated, the wolf once again found himself somewhat out of his depth. However, at least in this instance, it was due to simply not having an in-depth knowledge of the various abbreviations and codes used for shorthand in order to keep lab test pages neat and orderly rather than being overwhelmed by a deluge of nonsense words. Casually, the wolf skimmed the various numbers on the chart, only really making note of where the percentages of whatever was being tested fell into the listed 'safe' zone in an effort to more quickly discern just what Ada wanted them to see.

But it soon became apparent that the wolf's filtering system was unnecessary as his eyes zeroed in one a few numbers printed in red, each of which was encircled in what appeared to be hastily drawn ovals of red ink.

"These numbers here?" Yuri watched as Lance's index hoof tapped one of the circles, alerting the wolf to the fact that once again his partner had leaned in to look over the chart as well. "The one circled." The stag continued. "I take it this is the one you wanted us to see?"

"Good eye dere." Ada said with a sarcastic lilt, her words ending in a soft chuckle.

"Y'all will have to fergive me Nurse Dabu, but..." The wolf scratched the back of his head. " I don't exactly know lab result codes like the back of my paw er' nuthin." Yuri admitted sheepishly. "Exactly what are these codes, and what do they mean?"

"Da tree you shoulds be lookin' at are da levels of cortisol, testasterone, and adrenalin' dat was in dis mook as of two days ago." Ada replied, gesturing a lame paw at the chart in Yuri's paw.

"Cortisol is da stress hormone, it's supposta help wit temperin' ya's body to deals with stressful situations, but if youse is constantly stressed, da level don't go down and dat can cause long toim problems." The hyena explained. "As for de udder two, testasterone and Adrenalin' wells, I don't tinks I need to explain to youse boys what high levels of dose in a mammal mean."

Glancing over each set of numbers circled numbers, it was easy to see that they were at an abnormal range when measured against the other listed levels on the sheet, some significantly so.

"Forgive me Miss Dabu,-" Lance interjected. "But I'm going to need a bit more clarification in order for me to understand just how those lab results tie into your claim that this mammal died of night howler toxicity"

Ada grimaced slightly, the Hyena's ears flattening against her head as her gaze shifted away from the officers.

"From what dem documentaries and da resoiche told mes, elevated levels of cortisol, testasterone and adrenalin' are key factors in makin' a nite howla diagnosis." The hyena admitted reluctantly. "Because if da mammal in question ain't gonna tells ya he was exposed to it, you ain't gonna find any hard evidence of da howla itself."

"How do you know that?" Lance asked.

"And how is that possible?" Yuri added.

"Wells, ya see, aftas dat whole Zootopia case, studyin' night Howla sorta became...well's...a side hobbies of mine." The hyena offered a weak shrug. "Ya'knows how when a topic piques ya's interest for a while, so ya's spend a whole bunch of time lookin' inta and absorbin' infos about it?"

Yuri nodded, the wolf had seen his fair share of info binge sessions throughout his life. Whether it was very specific criminal documentaries, or the complete history of his particular model of Snarley since the company had first opened, the wolf was more than familiar with the prospect of becoming extremely fixated on an arguably odd topic.

"For a whiles I was inhalin' any documentary or resoich paypa I could get my paws on." The hyeness continued. "Listenin' to expoits talk about how it woiks, what it acktually does ta mammals heads..." Ada continued, lazily rolling her wrist as she continued to list off what she had gleaned from her obsession. " I watched expoits go over a few of da scenes where some of da victims got hit wit da pellet wit a fine-tooth comb."

Ada leaned over the gurney once more, bracing her paws on the rail of the bed as she eyed the pair.

"I listened to dem talkin' heads go on about da concoin ovas copycat crimes. But I also listened to da resoich expoits dey had on who was more coincoined about Howla bein' woiked into futua desinga drugs." Ada's green eyes seemed to shimmer with confidence as she glared down at the wolf and stag. "And abouts just how longs da stuff can stays in yours system, and just how bad long toim exposuire can be for mammals."

Ada closed her eyes, raising a single finger once again.

"And most importantlies I loined dat unless you know dat youse should be lookin' fors it ina guys system, you ain't gonna find it on a standard lab woik up." The hyena said with a proud smirk.

"Nite holwa istelf don't generally come up on any lab woik." Ada admitted. "It's considered a somewhat _'psychoactive' _toxin, which is exceedinly diffacult to detect wit all but da most expensive and hioghly specialized test kits." Ada offered a flimsy, wavering smirk. "Which obviouslys we don't got access to here."

Thinking back to his brief self-guided tour through the cluttered hall of the hospital, that fact didn't surprise Yuri one bit.

The hyeness shrugged. "Edar way, hard evidence of da stuff is quick to evaporate off and just ghost on yas completelies." Ada continued. "It's da reason why da whole poison pellet ting in Zoot was so effective. Despite da deep color, da expoit types say it had a less den a minute evaporation time before da impact site ain't any more descernables from da rest of a mammals fois."

"Only reason dey figured out dat it was nite howla in da Zootopia case in da foist place was because dey caught Woolchesta', udderwise dere's a good chance dey'd still be scratchin' dere heads ovas how to treat dem 'savage' mammals." Ada added. "And wit how long dat dat stuff can stay inside ya's, dere's a good chance none of dem mammals woulda lasted long enough for it to wears off, so dey was lucky."

"Bellwether." Lance corrected.

Ada rolled her eyes, letting out a slight huff.

"Look, what I'm sayin' is what I loined from my resoich is dat when you ain't got da hard proof, youse need to look at the background signs. And da signs dat are consistant wit suspected nite howla toxicity are elevated levels of all dem tings I'm showin' yous." Ada concluded. "Dey is lower dan a full-on 'savage' mammal, but way hoiher den dey should be for an average male lion."

Yuri was intrigued, the wolf scratching his chin thoughtfully as he eyed the large hyeness. Ada seemed to know her stuff when it came to Night Howler, at least, as far as the wolf could tell. But at the same time, the wolf's limited knowledge of the stuff was part of the problem. Yuri had only very recently heard rumblings amid some of the seedier places in town about a supposed night howler based drug, and those he had heard about it from were less than reputable at best. Based on what had gone down in Zootopia, the toxin seemed like something that would be far to wild and unstable to even risk working into a drug. Then again, the wolf was neither a chemist nor an idiot, and he reckoned you needed to be either one of them or both to take such a risk.

"Yes, well..." Lance muttered, idly scratching his leg with his other heel. "I suppose we'll have to take your word on that for now..."

"I take it none of this came up in his initial work up?" Yuri asked.

Ada smiled broadly, the large hyeness showing of her fangs as she stabbed a claw in Yuri's direction.

"Exactly!" Ada chirped.

"And you double checked this work yes?" Lance added, tilting his head inquisitively. "You are absolutely positive of these level counts?"

Ada gave the stag an enthusiastic nod. "Tree times!" The hyena exclaimed as she held up a paw. Ada held up two fingers before pressing her opposite fingers against the tips of each. "Two test screenin's for blood." The hyeness held up a third finger, and again pressed her adjourning finger against the tip. "And one localized deep tissue sample test to be absolutely shoires. all of dem indicated dat dere was some level of night howler at play in dis fella's system.."

Lance rubbed a hoofnail under his chin, his eyes seemingly fixed onto the tip of his muzzle as he seemingly mulled over Ada's account.

"You reckon' it's some sorta drug?" Yuri asked, quirking a brow.

"Maybe?" Lance muttered, continuing to massage his chin thoughtfully. "Of course, if that were the case it would have to be something new. Possibly brand new." The stag tapped his lower lip with his finger idly.

"Well, Y'all said Felis was a recreational drug user right?" Yuri asked the nurse.

Ada nodded. "Yeah, it was on his original chart."

Taking the previous chart in his hooves, Lance began to thumb through the pages once more.

"Still, if it were something truly new, what is the likely hood that an admitted casual drug user would get their paws on it so..." The stag trailed off as his eyes seemed to fix on something written toward the back end of the document. The stag skimmed whatever he was reading silently for a moment, his lips moving as he seemed to mouth the writing to himself.

"Misses Felis' contact information has her occupation listed as a 'florist'." Lance muttered as he turned his head to glance upward at his partner, the stag adjusting his spectacles slightly as he spoke.

Yuri quirked a curious brow. "A florist?"

Lance nodded. "It's one of the few professions that would allow a mammal to get their paws on Night Howler without necessarily raising any eyebrows in customs." The stag continued. "At least in Seaotter anyway."

Yuri pulled gingerly at the fur on his chin in thought. "Y'all thinkin' he used his wife's work to get his paws on some Howler to experiment with er..?" The wolf furrowed his brow slightly. "Yer thinkin' it's somethin' more sinister?"

"I'm not sure..." Lance muttered, his own brow furrowing to match Yuri's. The wolf could see the gears starting to turn in his partner's head. Lance was clearly intrigued now, or at least more invested than he had been previously.

"Still, I'm not sure how ready I am to jump to those conclusions just yet." The stag muttered. "And if it is indeed night howler poisoning, how would it translate to causing a heart attack in a lion who appeared for all intents and purposes, in the prime of his life."

Yuri turned his attention back to Ada, his ears skewing slightly as he eyed her inquisitively. "I take it y'all got yer own conclusions on that?"

Ada giggled. "Of coise I do." The hyena offered the duo a sheepish smirk. "At least I'm pretty shoires I do."

Ada chuckled softly, the hyena rubbing her paws together briskly for a moment. "Allow me's to plead my case if youse will..." The hyena said with a smirk as she gestured for officers to back up from the gurney rail slightly. Turning her attention to the stag at his side, the hyena flashed him an inquisitive glance.

"I'm about to start pokin' around in dis fella, you gonna be alrite wit dat?" Ada asked, her eyes fixing on Lance as she offered the stag a rather smug smirk. Even though her tone gave the impression of holding some semblance of sweetness to it, Yuri could easily pick up on the condescension layered beneath it. "Need a bucket?" The hyeness grinned broadly.

Yuri had to try and hide his smirk. It was nice to see Lance get a taste of his own medicine from someone other than himself for once.

Lance let out a derisive snort, turning his snout up and away from her in offense.

"Just get on with it." The stag rolled his eyes, flicking his hooves in a hurrying gesture.

Yuri watched as the hyena grabbed a pair of clamps and a scalpel from the tray on her desk before gingerly leaning in close to the deceased lion's neck. The wolf could hear her let out an audibly shaky exhale before gingerly placing the clamps in the slit cut down the middle of his throat and carefully opening the clamps as wide as she could in order to spread the wound open.

"Could youse boys lean in a bit closer?" Ada asked, gesturing very carefully with the scalpel in her paw for the two to draw in around her.

Yuri was quick to oblige, peering into the open wound over the hyena's shoulders as he tried to make sense of what he was seeing. Admittedly to the wolf, he couldn't exactly tell what half of the stuff inside the lion's throat was. He wasn't well versed on the proper terms and labels for the nuanced layers of flesh stacked and compressed within the throat. But he knew at least enough of what to look for in terms of trauma, and from how Ada was carefully piloting her tools she seemed to know what to look for as well.

"If you two woulds look here in da vocal chords...see dis...?"

Yuri watched as the Hyena pointed to a few specific sections of flesh with the tip of her scalpel. While the flesh was somewhat pale, Yuri could see the difference between it and the surrounding flesh almost immediately. The areas Ada had pointed out were reddened and frayed in spots. It almost looked as though someone had scooped out a little portion of flesh from inside the cadaver's throat, but the uneven cut of the edge showed that whatever had happened had been a natural rip rather than some sort of postmortem biopsy.

"Yeah..." Yuri muttered. "It looks damaged."

"Torn." Ada corrected. "And hemorrhagin'." The hyena added, pointing to several different deep red pockets of flesh with the tip of her blade. "Or at least it was when he was still alive and everyting clotted up."

The hyeness shook her head dismissively. "I ain't never seen a mammal wit a troat torn up dis bad." Ada added.

"There any damage to the hyoid bone?" Yuri asked.

Ada shook her head dismissively. "Foist ting I checked." The hyena replied. "Da damage is all intoinal, no outside trauma."

The hyena drew back, carefully closing the clamps before withdrawing them from the incision.

Ada glanced at Yuri, quirking a brow. "Best I could figas at da time was dat he damaged it from roarin' and or screamin'." The hyena concluded, placing her paws on her hips. "It was da only ting dat made sense." Ada cocked a brow in Yuri's direction. "Do you knows how much youse gotta be screamin' to do dis level of damage to yours vocal folds?"

Yuri pulled at the little tuft of fur at the end of his chin as he tried to visualize what the hyena had suggested.

"Sure he wasn't a musician?" The wolf asked with a chuckle. 

Ada giggled, flicking a dismissive paw at the wolf.

"Lookin' threw da guis history, unless he was moonlightin' in a thrash metal band dat no one's knew about, he ain't got a lick of singin' experience." The hyena replied. "Even so, I sent a few snaps out to some of my friends who woiks in ear, nose and troat, and dey all came back tellin' me dat sorta damage come from munts of overwoiken' da larynx, or unnatural levels of exertion."

Placing her clamp back on the metal tray, the hyena grasped one of Leo's limp arms by the wrist.

"And den we have dis finga trauma." Ada continued, pulling his arm up to eye level and once again inviting the officers to have a look.

Taking a closer look at the lion's paws now that they were closer to his eye line, the wolf could see the greater extent of the bruising along the tips of his fingers and pads. Each of them was thoroughly shredded and caked with drying blood and a sparse smattering of dark shrapnel fragments that as far as the wolf could tell were some sort of wood splinters.

"Splinters?" Yuri asked, glancing back at Ada.

The large hyeness nodded. "Oak wood specifically. Coulda' been from foiniture, but more den likely was from a door." Ada shrugged. " At least dat's what makes da most sense to me."

Yuri was about to ask why, but the hyena cut him off as she abruptly spun the lion's hand by the wrist, turning it to face with its palm in Yuri's direction before grasping the lion's index finger at the base and pointing her scalpel to the tip.

"He's missing a claw?" Yuri said, noting the blood-caked opening where one of his retractable claws had once sat.

"Seems consistent wit da level of damage to his fingas..." Ada continued, gingerly dragging the dull end of the scalpel down to reveal to Yuri that part of the fleshy pad on Leo's index finger had begun to peel away from the trauma. It was enough to draw a quiet hiss from Yuri as he imagined what that would feel like.

"Based on all diss, It looks to me like dis guy was desperately scrapin' at sometin up until his last breadth." Ada eased the lion's paw back down onto the gurney. "Udder paw is pretty much da same, aside from missin' two claws."

"Still..." Lance piped up. "I imagine a mammal in the throes of a heart attack might claw at whatever they could reach in desperation." The stag pursed his lips. Lance picked up the chart once more, the stag returning to the dense pages of text and slowly flicking through them. "Then again...the bruising isn't mentioned on the original chart either..."

"Nothin' in that mess o' medical babble about the vocal fold damage either?" Yuri asked, now reading over the stag's shoulder.

"None that I can see." Lance replied. "Again, just a lot of reiteration in regards to _'sudden cardiac arrest_'.

Turning his attention back to the nurse, the stag quirked an inquisitive brow.

"But if you are trying to tell me this mammal actually went _'savage'_, I take it you have more a bit more supplementary evidence to back it up?" Lance asked.

"Ah, I ain't done yet!" Ada replied, waggling a finger in the direction of the stag before gesturing the pair over toward the lion's thigh. Retrieving her clamp once more, the Hyeness directed the pair's attention to a large slit cut into Leonard's hip.

"Da foist ting dat got me curious was da finga damage." Ada muttered. "I noticed da troat issue doin' a routine endo check, and had to open it up to confirm my findin's." Yuri watched as the large hyeness gingerly inserted her clamps into the wound.

"By dat point my ears was already up, ya knows?" Ada continued as she slowly eased the clamps deeper. "I mean none of dis was on his chart at all. Not even a mention in passin' in dat textbook fluff piece."

Slowly, carefully, the large she-yeen opened the clamps, spreading the wound open wide enough to see inside. Without shifting her focus away from her work, the hyena reached a paw up to the overhead lamp, clasping the grip on one side of it before pulling it down to better illuminate the opening.

"And at dat point, sumtin' just clicked in my head, ya knows?" Ada continued. "I remembered some of da stuff I saw in dose Nite Howla resoich reports, specifically da findin's of da mammals who was in da most critical condition from it."

Yuri watched as Ada carefully maneuvered her scalpel along the wound, using the tip of it to trace a very visible, clean cut in the lion's leg muscle.

"Ya see, dose sufferin' from da nite Howla sickness go inta a sorta flight or fight mode, but cranked up to eleven." Ada continued. "Dey don't really revert back to a primal state, dere hoihger brain functions just get overwhelmed wit raw fear and adrenalin', and dis makes dem go at whatever dey see as a treat recklessly." Ada glanced up at Yuri momentarily. "Y'know? No resistance? No scentsa self presoivation. Dey just dos whatevas it takes to fight back or run aways. So dey tend to dos a lot of internal damage to demselves witout even realizin' it."

Glancing back to the wound, Ada brought her scalpel to the center of the clean cut.

"Dis here is where I took da biopsy for da tissue test." The she-yeen added, before shifting the tip of her knife further down along the edge of the muscle. As Yuri followed the shimmering blade, the wolf became acutely aware of what appeared to be frayed looking fibers on the surface of the uncut portion of muscle.

"What's that on his muscle there?" The wolf asked, carefully pointing a finger to the strange fibers.

"Dat's what pushed me ova da edge inta doin' a biopsy and da bloodwoik in da foist place." The hyena replied, gingerly pointing out several areas on the muscle surface where the frayed flesh appeared the most severe before concluding her little tour by settling over what appeared to be a gouge in the lion's muscle, framed with the same frayed fibers.

"Dis guiz muscles are alls torns ta shreds." Ada continued. "And it's consistant all ova dis guy, I did a second cut on his upper arm to be shoires, same ting."

"I take it none of that was on the initial report either?" Yuri replied with a half chuckle.

"Exactly how old is Doctor Moleson?" Lance asked curiously.

"Yeah, and is the fella senile?" Yuri added with a chuckle. "I mean, I'd wager he'd have to be to miss this stuff."

"He's fourty-fours pretty old for one of dem rodent fellas. But as far I can tell he's still got halfs a brain." The hyeness chuckled. "Granted I know it's hard for olda folk to woik as well as mammals in dere prime, and I mean...a mole havin' to autopsy a lion, well...I'd wanna cut coiners too." The hyena chuckled. "I wouldn't, but I'des want toos."

Withdrawing her clamp, the hyena returned it to the metal tray on her desk along with her scalpel before leveling her gaze at the officers. Ada braced her paws on the railing, cocking her head slightly.

"But still, at dat point I knew dis wasn't just Moleson cuttin' corners. Da whole ting didn't smell right, and dat's a big deal comin' from someone wit a yeen's nose!" The hyena chuckled, gesturing a paw at the lifeless form before here. "I mean here's you's got dis foit-tree years old lion who dey's wrote was done in by just a heart attack, but even a coisory glance at dis fellas insides make it looks like dis fella died runnin' a maraton, while endin' up on da ass end of a fite and singin' scream metal fors a munt or more." The hyeness shook her head sharp and dismissively. "Nuttin' added up rite, too many discrepancies."

"So that's when y'all sent yer samples?" The wolf asked, leaning an elbow on the guardrail, his eyes remaining fixed with keen interest on the hyeness.

Ada flashed Yuri a small, genuine smile, the hyeness fidgeting with the medical id badge hanging from her neck as she continued.

"Yep." Ada replied with a proud grin. "Of coise I didn't just send in my samples for testin' and call it a day. I knew if my hunch was rite I was gonna need to be as turough as possible befores I went and took dis up with anyone else."

"What did you do?" Lance asked, adjusting his spectacles.

Ada chuckled. "Well dat's when I chatted up my freinds in EMT, askin' around to sees which of da fellas down dere took da ride out to pick dis mook up." The hyeness said. Bracing her neck with a gloved paw and tilting her head back slightly. "I was hopin' dey could give me sum ideas of what tings looked like at da scene, to get a bedda picture, ya know?"

Yuri nodded in agreement. "And I take it that's where y'all heard about this fella tryin' to swipe at the first responders while they were treatin' him?"

The nurse gave a brisk nod. "And dat ain't da only ting dey told me."

Leaning forward slightly, Ada rested her elbows on the gurney rail. The hyeness bobbed her head slightly, flicking her mohawk out of her eyes once more before flashing the officers a rather cryptic glare.

"Apparently dis guys wife, Karen Felis, calls in and says she's found her husband on da floor of his office pretty much comatose." Ada gestured a paw at nothing in particular. "Dey give dis lady da usual instructions, ya know? Chest compression, basic CPR, all dat stuff. Basically all da tings she can try to do to stabilize dis guy until our boys arrive." Ada lolled her head slightly. "But den, da EMT's actually get dere and this lady is waitin' outside da office, wit da door closed." Ada leaned in slightly, flashing the wolf a serious stare. "She actually had tos unlock it before dey went in..."

"Unlock?" Yuri asked, his ears skewing as his muzzle scrunched up in confusion. "Y'all mean she locked her unconscious husband in his study?"

Ada nodded briskly. "What's more, when dey actually got in dere da place the place was pretty much toined upside down." The hyeness continued, lazily rolling her paw as she spoke. "Bunch a stuff was clawed up, shredded and broken ta pieces." Ada raised her paws, gesturing at nothing in particular. "It was like da fella was goin' wild before he passed out..."

"Like he had went savage." Yuri muttered, drawing back slightly as he placed a paw to his chin. The wolf stroked his beard tuft thoughtfully for a moment.

"Ah, but dat's da ting." Ada chided, waggling a finger at the wolf. "Even dough it was a mess, it didn't seems random." The hyeness gestured at the lifeless body between them. "Specific piktchas and furniture was wrecked, like da guy at least had some of his faculties when he tore da place apart." Her paw gesture shifted to the lion's damaged fingers. "And of coise, a very scratched up door."

"Did your friends in EMT mention this to Miss Felis?" Lance asked.

Ada narrowed her gaze at the stag.

"From what days told me, when dey asked her about it, Misses Felis says day was havin' a big fite before he stormed off inta his office and trew a tantrum." Ada admitted. "When he finally quieted down, she went tas check on him and found him layin' on duh floor."

Yuri watched as once again his partner began to thoughtfully stroke his chin with a hoofnail. "Well, that doesn't sound entirely consistent with a savage episode." The stag murmured. "I mean, you said it yourself Misses Dabu, a savage episode makes a mammal wild and reckless. And if Misses Felis words are to be believed, as well as the accounts of your _'friends' _who were the first responders to the scene, it seems that Mister Felis was at least in control of some degree of his faculties.

"Yeah..." Yuri added, pulling at the fur on his chin between his thumb and forefinger as he mulled over the information. "I mean, Iffin' I recall from what little I knew of the Zootopia case, them mammals who were sick with Night Howler poisinin' were so strung out and savage they couldn't even tell their kin apart from just any other mammal, that's how much it messed up their heads."

"Not to mention all those mammals successfully recovered." Lance joined in. "Even though the level of toxin was high, it wasn't enough to end in a fatality."

Ada held up a claw. "Maybe not in da shoit toim." The hyena rebutted. "But did youse ever follows up on any of dem cases? Find out what happened to dem mammals who had been dealin' wit da effects for a munt or more?

"Wait, a month?" Yuri asked, quirking a brow. "That stuff can really linger in a mammals system for that long?"

"What didja tink I meant when I said dat ting about_ 'repeated exposhoires'_?'" Ada asked, placing her paw on her sides as she cocked her hip to one side. The hyeness flashed the wolf a knowing smirk. "Da mammals in da Zootopia case was deemed incurable till dey figured out nite howla was da cause. Only den could dey actually reverse da effects wit an andtidote." Ada offered a weak shrug. "And by dat point some of dem infected mammals had been sufferin' fas almost tree munts."

Leaning against the rail once more, Ada's sharp green eyes met Yuri's in a solemn stare.

"Wit dose fellas, da ones dat suffa'd da longest, dey came out of it wit extensive muscle and udder tissue damage dat took munts of physical terapy to recovas from." Ada added. "And dose mammals had da benefit of havin' all da howla effects flushed out of dere system, not sittin' inside 'em and buildin' up trough repeat small grade exposhoires."

"Wait...so are you saying Mister Felis internal damage is...from months of consistent exposure to smaller doses of Night Howler?" Lance interjected. "Is that even possible?"

"It probably won't surpsie youse to know nite howla ain't healthy. " The hyena chuckled. "It causes unnatural strain on any mammals system. Constant abuse of da stuff in any capacity is only gonna do mores and woise damage." Ada explained, gesturing to the body on the gurney. "In dis mooks case, for whateva reasons, I tink he was takin' nite howla, deliberately and consistently." Ada shrugged. "My guess is it was some kinda diluted form, but it don't matter if he didn't knows da damage was buildin' up." Ada shrugged. "And it ain't like we had a lot of information intoinally, much less out in public on what it could do loing toim."

The hyeness grasped Leonards arm by the wrist, gingerly raising it up and giving it a light shake. " Da effects neva left his system, and because it was dere old Leonard here's was puttin' more strain's on his body witout realizin' it. Da increase in his average adrenalin' levels and testasterone was probably blindin' him ta some of da pain."

Ada allowed the mammals' arm to unceremoniously flop back onto the bed.

"I can also imagines dis fella was havin' more tantrums on average den Misses Felis reported da night dey picked him up due to da elevated flight or flite respawnse." Ada shrugged.

"And while he may neva have gone full savage, you can't spend munts of ya life at wit yas body runnin' at one-hundred and twenty percent witout reachin' a breakin' point!" Ada spat, raising a paw above her head as if to emphasize the lion's overclocking of his own metabolism.

"So you're saying the heart attack wasn't simply random." Lance replied, stroking his chin. "It was merely the end result of long term night howler toxicity?"

Ada nodded softly. "Da hearts a muscles too ya knows." Ada raised her paws, offering the pairs a shoulder shrug. "Too much strain fors too longs an it can gives on ya just like anyting else in yas body."

The hyena chuckled softly. "It's like youse put it offica Eckart, even if a drugs didn't look likes it was in his system, da long toim use left aftaeffect." The hyena shurgged. "It just wasn't da usual drug."

Yuri turned to glance at his partner, the wolf quirking a brow.

" Y'all thinkin' what I'm thinking?" Yuri asked.

Lance offered the wolf a soft nod.

"If everything Miss Dabu has presented is to be believed and confirmed, it seems to me that Mister Felis has been dabbling in some very illicit practices." The stag pressed the bridge of his glasses momentarily, sliding them back up his snout. "Practices that seem to have finally caught up with him."

Yuri nodded. "That fight him and his misses had musta pushed him over the edge." The wolf muttered. "He just snapped, and in the middle of that tantrum his heart just up and gave out on him."

"But then why would Misses Felis lock him in his study?" Lance muttered, scratching his chin. "Did she know about his habit?"

"Did yer friends in EMT say anythin' else to her?" Yuri asked, turning his attention back to the large hyeness.

Ada shook her head dismissively, but the expression on her muzzle gave the wolf a vague impression of uncertainty.

"Well...dats where tings get weirder...at least for mes anyway." Ada admitted with a shrug.

"What do you mean?" Lance asked, the stag leaning slightly toward the nurse in what seemed like anticipation.

"Well, when dem fellas was leavin' da place, dey said an investiogator from da SOPD showed up." Ada continued. "At dat point dey just assumed he was takin' her statements, and it wasn't dere place to poke around..."

"Wait..." Lance replied, his iris momentarily darting to the limp form of Leonard Felis before settling back on Ada. His baby blues now seemed to glimmer with a similar determination that Yuri had seen in the nurse just moments ago when she had been breaking down the various elements of her autopsy investigation. "You mean to tell me that there is already an investigator involved?"

"If that's the case why didn't ya take it up with him instead of tryin' to flag any mammal from dispatch?" Yuri added.

Once again, the hyeness seemed to take a rather careful and wary glance around the room as though she were keeping an eye peeled for some unseen observer who was eavesdropping. Bracing a paw on the guard rail, the hyena beckoned the officers closer with a finger.

Yuri was quick to oblige, but once again Lance seemed rather timid about the whole affair. Yuri could see the stag's muzzle curl into an uneasy grimace as he leaned over the lifeless form of Leonard Felis.

Placing a paw by her muzzle, the Hyena's eyes made one last sweeping dart from left to right before she finally spoke, her thick Barx accent pouring out in a hushed and whispered tone.

"Because sumtin' fishy's goin' on wit dat too." The hyena replied.

Yuri quirked a dubious brow.

"Fishy?" The wolf replied dumbly.

"How so?" Lance added.

Once again the Hyena seemed to scan the room around them, her deep green eyes darting around the dimmer corners of the morgue before returning their focus on the duo of cops.

"Wells, ta start wit, not only did my EMT guys not get a name from dis officas, but he ain't listed on da chart edar." Ada continued, her eyes shifting from Yuri's to Lance's and back again. " So I's start askin' da docs who woiked on dis guy if dis detective ever touched base wit dem, and dey just told me _'It wasn't for me's to worries about, dat da SOPD was involved and dey was supposed to handle it.'_"

"They basically told y'all to butt out?" Yuri reiterated, in order to confirm what the hyena was implying.

"Yeas." Ada nodded briskly. "Which was weird cause wheneva's we got a body dat's considered 'hot', it's gotta be on da form." The hyeness explained. "We gotta make shoire da guiz arranged for pick up by youse guys so he doesn't accidentally end up goin' to da funeral home or da ovens before you guiz collect yours evidence."

Reaching out a paw, the nurse picked up Doctor Moleson's report, handing it off to the two officers as she continued.

"But if youse look in dat packet, aside from da 'heart attack' prognosis, dis fella was supposta be shipped out to da crematorim yestadays."

Flipping through to the tail end of the rather lengthy report, sure enough the wolf's eyes came to rest upon simple instructions for the body to be released to the care of "Carrion Crematorium" as of the previous morning.

"Again, it's startin' ta stink." Ada added.

"I can see why..." Yuri replied.

"Did you bring that to anyone else's attention?" Lance asked.

Ada lolled her softly from left to right as she seemed to be mulling over her words.

"Well, by dat point I was startin' to get noivus..." The hyena admitted with a sheepish smirk. "I had a feelin's I had to do a little side investigatin' of my own and treat everyone I's talked to like dey was a suspect or treat, ya knows?"

"So what did you do from there Miss Dabu?" Lance asked, the stag seemingly forgetting the uneasiness the close proximity of Leonard's body had instilled in him over his growing interest in the hyena's account.

"Well, I'm pretty tight with da administrator of da hospital." Ada continued. "She's a raccoon, great gal by da way." The hyena prattled on, rolling her wrist as she did so. "But I gets ta buggin' her to get in touch wit you guys precinct, and get a hold of dis guy to see if he's actually doin' any 'casewoik.'"

The hyeness bobbed her head slightly, trying to flick her swooping mane of hair out of her muzzle before continuing.

"Anyways, when she finally gets ahold of 'Officers Jawnson'." Ada placed her paw back by her muzzle once again, flashing the officers a sly glance. "Which I'm pretty shoires is a fake name." The hyena added quietly. " And he tells her he's already been down to see da bodies, and dat in he agrees wit da autopsy reports, and dat dere was no foul play involved."

Bracing her paws on the gurney rail with a loud clatter, the gleam behind Ada's eyes seemed to intensify.

"Despite da fact dat dis guy's name ain't no where's on da sheet!" Ada exclaimed.

"Did you bring that up?" Yuri asked.

Ada let out a loud cackle, unlike before however, this time she seemed unconcerned with covering her muzzle as she eyed to officers with a somewhat wild glare.

"I ain't some sucker!" Ada replied with a cheesy grin. "I plays it smart."

"So what did you do Miss Dabu?" Lance interjected, the stag now leaning so far over the deceased feline there might have been a real risk of him falling onto it should he have slipped.

"By dis point I had just confoimed my test results, and I had been in da morge dee entire day befores, quietly cancelin' da 'crematorium' order." The hyena continued, holding up a clawed finger. "So I asked my friend to ask dis fella when he's was down to see da bodies, right?"

Yuri nodded.

"Officer Jawnson tells Janine dat he was dere just yesterday!" The hyena laughed. "O'course we didn't tell him I was dere all day, and hadn't seen hide nors hair of dis boy in blue."

"Forgive me Miss Dabu, but couldn't he theoretically been out to check the body while you were off?" The stag interjected. "Certainly you don't work twenty-four hour shifts? Is it possible you just missed him?"

Ada offered a weak shrug. "I consideds dat. Which is why I came up wit a foolproof ways to test him."

"And that was?" Yuri asked.

"I had's Janine ask hims if da brusin' on Mista Felis' right thigh was consistent wit da cause of deth." Ada replied.

"Bruised thigh?" Lance asked, quirking a brow. "You never mentioned Mister Felis' thigh being bruised during the overview of his body."

With the wave of a paw, Ada broke the impromptu huddle by directing the officer's attention to the thigh in question. Even without the light directed on it, it was easy to see that aside from the autopsy cut, there was no evidence of bruising of any kind.

"'Officers Jawnson'" Ada held her paws up, making air quotes with her fingers as she repeated the rather dubious sounding name. "Told us dat he felt da bruisin' was consistent to a fall related to da heart attack."

"You let him talk himself into a lie?" Yuri asked, a small smirk crossing his muzzle.

"I must admit...that was quite a clever move." The stag added.

Ada flashed the pair a genuine smile, her fanged teeth protruding slightly as she seemed to swell a bit with pride. "Danks."

By now Yuri could see that his partner had at some point withdrawn his not pad from his breast pocket, and had begun scribbling furiously. Yuri could see Lance's brow furrowing sharply as he continued to scribble away, the stag now fully engrossed in the nurse's account of events.

"What did you do after that Miss Dabu?" Lance's next question was firm, rigid with the tone of protocol. Yuri had gotten him to listen long enough to bite, and he was glad he did.

"After dat I lets it go for a fews howers, tryin' to make shoires whoever dat offica's was, he was off duty when I called youse guys myself." Ada added with a smirk. "Of course, I hads to get Janine to vouch for mes, and keep a lot of what I founds close to mys chests, tills you's both got here's, but dank da gods yas showed!"

Lance continued to scribble his noted down, taking a moment to adjust his spectacles in between presumed paragraphs.

"But Nurse Dabu?" Yuri asked, his ears loping off at different angles as a confused expression crossed his muzzle.

"If yer suspicious of a cop at this point, what makes y'all think you can trust us?" The wolf added.

Ada offered the pair a rather sheepish smirk as she shrugged.

"Because I can tells youse guys is honest cops." Ada replied. "At least dats what my guts tellin' me, and it's almost neva wrong."

Fixing her deep green eyes on Yuri, her smirk widened slightly as the wolf noticed a tinge of crimson seeming to form below her muzzle fur.

"Cute too..." The hyeness added.

Even if Yuri had been able to stop the wide, beaming grin from forcing it's way to his muzzle, the telltale frenzied wag of his tail would have removed any semblance of poker face he could have mustered.

With an audible 'clap', Lance snapped his notepad shut, the stag tucking it as well as his pen into his breast pocket. Glancing back up at the pair, the stag's expression seemed almost remorseful.

"Well..." The buck sighed. "I do suppose an apology is in order Miss Dabu."

Ada furrowed her brow, flashing Yuri an expression that looked like a mixture of surprise and confusion.

"What, youse want me to apologize to youse for bein' right?" Ada replied with a chuckle.

Lance shook his head softly. "No, of course not." The stag sighed. "The only mammal who was in the wrong this evening was myself." The buck continued, his ears drooping slightly as his gaze shifted downward. "Even if I am loathed to admit it."

"Well..." Ada murmured. "It takes a big mammal tos admit when he's got someone pegged all wrong." The hyena smirked. "Even if he's on da small side."

Lance seemingly forced himself to stop midway through a scoff.

"But...tanks." Ada added, offering the diminutive stag a genuine smirk.

"No miss Dabu, thank you." Lance replied with a small smile of his own. "I would say there is an overwhelming amount of ground here for a proper investigation."

"Aren't ya glad I said we should stick around?" Yuri added, the wolf leaning on the guard rail once again as he flashed his partner a somewhat smug smirk.

"Yes, yes..." The stag muttered as he approached his partner, pocketing his pen and notepad. "And I'm sure I'll never hear the end of it later, but for now we've got a lot of work to do."

Yuri nodded. "Yer right. It's clear someone's tryin' to bury this fer whatever reason."

"Someones." Lance highlighted. "And we need to un-bury this."

"I reckon we should start with the wife first." Yuri added. "Iffin' we're gonna find the stuff that did this fella in, there's a good chance it's in that house of theirs, and we're gonna wanna find it before she sees fit to get rid of it."

Lance furrowed his brow, narrowing his gaze at the wolf.

"Oh no..." The stag replied, a knowing expression lacing his features as he eyed the wolf dubiously. Yuri could only smirk in response. The stag had come to know him all too well it seemed, and while he wasn't sure if Lance knew exactly what he was proposing, he could at least tell it involved bending the rules.

With a throaty chuckle, Yuri pressed himself off the guard rail and to his feet as his partner strode past him, the stag starting to make his way for the exit.

"We have to get back to the car right now and call in for back up." The stag continued, seemingly lost in the potential case at paw as he continued to prattle off procedure. " We'll have to have a team dispatched to the Felis residence immediately, as well as our own forensic team to take custody of the body and take Miss Dabu's information."

As he approached the door, the stag paused, turning his head to regard his partner.

"Come on Yuri, we can't afford to waste!" The stag exclaimed. "Let's get a move on."

Yuri chuckled softly, shaking his head before pointing a thumb at the lion on the gurney.

"Shouldn't some mammal stay here with the body?" The wolf replied.

Lance looked puzzled, but only momentarily as the buck shifted his gaze to Ada.

"Miss Dabu, can you keep an eye on Mister Felis until we return from the squad car?" The stag asked.

Ada chuckled, shaking her head. "Hey no worries, dis guy ain't goin' nowhere." The hyena replied, earning a laugh from Yuri as she let out a cackle of her own.

"Then let's get moving!" Lance announced proudly, and with that, the stag passed through the double doors and back into the hall.

Shaking his head dismissively, the wolf began a slow trudge of his own in pursuit of his excitable partner. Just shy of the door however, the wolf stopped, glancing over his shoulder at the nurse.

"Thank y'all fer yer time Miss Dabu." Yuri replied.

"Youse can just call me Ada." The hyena replied with a small smirk. "Callin' me 'Miss Dabu' makes me feel like I'm someone's grandma or somtin'." Ada added, waving a paw dismissively.

Yuri chuckled. "Alright, Ada." The wolf replied.

"Ohs wait!" The hyena suddenly blurted out. Yuri turned around, watching the hyeness squeeze out from behind the gurney before jogging over to him.

"Youse ain't gonnas forget to mention me in da paperwoik are yas?" The hyena said as she came to a stop in front of the wolf. Ada braced a paw against her neck, offering the wolf a meek smile. "My skills are bein' wasted here and I'd love to be a criminal forensologist!"

Yuri smirked, letting out a dull chuckle as he casually slipped his paws into his pockets.

"Technically, the position yer lookin' fer is called 'Forensic Pathology', so y'all would be lookin' to be a 'Forensic Patholo_gist_'." The wolf replied.

Ada frowned slightly, the hyena seemingly cursing herself for not knowing the proper term as she glanced downward. The wolf could see the hint of a blush forming beneath her cheek fur.

"Even so, y'all might be happier if we left your name out of it if this thang turns out to be as buried as it seems." The wolf chuckled. "Ya might not want to be trapped on that sinkin' ship with us."

"I guess youse are right..." The hyena said with a rather disappointed sounding sigh.

"Now don't fret Ada." The wolf added with a chuckle. "I'd happily give y'all a glowin' reference iffin' y'all submit an application." The wolf said with a smirk. "Based on what I've seen, I'd say y'all more than qualified fer the spot."

The hyena seemed to perk up at that response, her green eyes shimmering with glee as they met Yuri's once again. Ada's muzzle split into a wide, cheerful grin.

"Hey, I'd appreciate dat Offica Hunta." Ada replied.

"Please..." Yuri flashed her a warm, toothy smile. "Call me Yuri."

Ada giggled softly, the large hyena fluttering her eyelids and leaning in slightly as she eyed the wolf.

"Well...'Yuri'." She repeated sweetly. "If youse are gonna be my reference, den I'm gonna need a numba to put down on my application ain't I?" Ada cooed. "Maybe we could run some practice drill over cawfee sometime? After alls, I gotta make sures I like what youse are sayin' about me."

Yuri chuckled, feeling the heat of a blush of his own trying to creep up to his muzzle. She may have been taller than him, but damn if she wasn't cute.

Ada pulled a notepad and pen of her own from her breast pocket, passing it off to Yuri expectantly.

Yuri chuckled warmly as he began to scribble down his information.

"Well honestly, I don't think y'all have anythin' to worry about..." The wolf cooed, jotting down the last of his information neatly on the pad before passing it back to the large hyeness.

Flashing the hyenass a final smirk, the wolf turned back toward the double doors, offering her a lazy wave.

"But I will take y'all up on that 'cawfee' sometime." The wolf added, playfully mimicking the Hyena's accent.

He heard the hyeness let out a final, awkward cackle as he slipped out of the morgue and entered the hall. The wolf was practically beaming, he could feel the wide, toothy grin tugging at the corners of his muzzle.

"Oh my gods..." Lance's interference drew the wolf from his quiet, internal reverie. The buck was standing right in front of him, apparently having elected to wait at the door rather than proceed to the squad care without him in tow. Lance shook his head, the stage rolling his eyes in disbelief.

"What?" Yuri asked, offering the mammal a full shoulder shrug.

"Only a mammal like you would have absolutely no qualms with picking up a date at the morgue...I swear..." The stag replied with a weak chuckle.

Yuri continued his shrug, as if begging the stag for a more substantial reason for his reaction, but Lance simply turned and proceeded to walk back toward the hospital exit.

Pointing a thumb back at the double doors, the wolf called out to his partner.

"And who's objectin' exactly aside from you? All the dead mammals in there?" The wolf called out.

The stag merely waved the wolf off without so much as turning around.

"Just don't forget to get her number as well when we come back in 'Cassanova'..."

Yuri tilted his head momentarily in confusion before realizing the stag was correct. While Yuri had passed his number off the hyeness, he hadn't waited around to snag her own. At that moment the wolf became aware of two things. One, without Ada's number the wolf had left the first move, and thus the balance of power in Ada's court when it came to pursuing anything. And two, Lance had thoroughly eavesdropped on them.

"Y'all were eavesdroppin'!?" Yuri spat loudly.

"Of course." The buck replied.

"What happened to havin' to call in the case 'urgently'!?" The wolf hissed.

Lance stopped in the hall, glancing over his shoulder with a smug smirk. "A minute or two delay wasn't going to make a huge difference." The stag replied. "Besides, I couldn't pass up the opportunity to have something like this to hold over your head." The stag chuckled.

Lance began walking again, shifting his attention back to the hall.

"Just wait till the boys at the station get a load of this one." The stag chuckled.

"Unless y'all wanna end up comin' back to this place on a gurney-!" Yuri called out, the wolf now starting a brisk jog in order to catch up to his partner. "Y'all won't breath a word of this to anyone!"

"One month paid lunch." The stag replied. "And my muzzle stays shut."


End file.
